Equity Residential $EQR Shares Sold by Sarasin & Partners LLP

Key Points

• Sarasin & Partners LLP sold 4,338 shares of Equity Residential, reducing its holdings by 4.5%, which now totals 92,502 shares valued at approximately $6.24 million.
• Several hedge funds increased their stakes in Equity Residential, with Versant Capital Management boosting its position by 51.6% during the first quarter.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.6925 per share, leading to a dividend yield of 4.3%, despite a payout ratio of over 104%.

Sarasin & Partners LLP lessened its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,502 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 4,338 shares during the quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $6,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 740 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 4.4% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,858 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.6% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,733 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $768,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Equity Residential by 2.9% in the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,283 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on EQR. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.25.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.4%

EQR stock traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,032,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,793,073. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.58. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.59, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.93.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%.The business had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 25th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.53%.

Equity Residential Company 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.