Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 32.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 226,760 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 55,394 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of Equity Residential worth $16,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 607.8% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Equity Residential by 51.6% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in Equity Residential by 109.5% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded up $0.04 on Friday, hitting $68.91. The stock had a trading volume of 2,959,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,844,589. The stock has a market cap of $26.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The company's 50 day moving average price is $69.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.07.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 33.11%. The business had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is currently 105.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on EQR. Scotiabank cut their target price on Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $79.25.

Equity Residential Profile

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft.