Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 5,293 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 11.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,921 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 5,293 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Equity Residential were worth $3,573,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 740 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:EQR traded down $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $66.53. 1,737,010 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,765,044. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.55. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.84. 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 stock has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Equity Residential from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday. Scotiabank cut 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 report on Friday, June 13th. Mizuho cut 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 report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.19.

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.