Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Raises Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 372.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,561 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 23,298 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $2,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% during the 1st 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 during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 765 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho cut their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective 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. UBS Group lowered their target price on Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.81.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE EQR traded down $0.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $67.28. 847,244 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,864,464. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $68.23 and its 200 day moving average is $69.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.88. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th were given a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential's payout ratio is presently 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.