SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 44.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,699 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 6,359 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $1,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 607.8% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 109.5% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.25.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR stock traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $68.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,479,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,719,917. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $69.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.11. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.41 and a 12-month high of $78.84. The company has a market capitalization of $26.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.01 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.73%.

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.