Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Sold by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 57,093 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 7,254 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $4,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth about $2,493,426,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $837,050,000 after buying an additional 57,660 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519,627 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $681,594,000 after buying an additional 165,683 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Equity Residential by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,897,863 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $566,749,000 after buying an additional 152,248 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $468,050,000 after acquiring an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective 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. Barclays increased their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho lowered 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. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.50.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,287,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,714,318. The company's 50-day moving average is $68.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.54. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $59.41 and a twelve month high of $78.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $26.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. Equity Residential's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. 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.