Vanderbilt University Sells 17,262 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Vanderbilt University decreased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 45.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,836 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 17,262 shares during the quarter. Vanderbilt University's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $1,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 51.6% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 109.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on EQR. Scotiabank decreased their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target 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. Wedbush reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho cut their price objective 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. Finally, Truist Financial lifted 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of EQR stock traded up $0.13 on Monday, reaching $69.12. 1,777,227 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,720,326. The stock has a market cap of $26.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.41 and a one year high of $78.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.95.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is currently 105.73%.

About Equity Residential

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.