Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,045,411 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 34,043 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.54% of Equity Residential worth $146,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,827 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.25.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $67.31 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.84. The company has a market cap of $25.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $69.30 and a 200-day moving average of $69.80.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.73%.

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.

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