Nebula Research & Development LLC reduced its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,169 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 9,688 shares during the quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth about $2,493,426,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 12.0% during the 4th 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 8.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $576,737,000 after acquiring an additional 591,866 shares during the last quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 79.1% in the fourth quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC now owns 1,161,137 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $83,323,000 after acquiring an additional 512,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth $32,664,000. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
EQR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their price target on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.71.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on EQR
Equity Residential Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE EQR traded up $1.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $71.70. 2,006,767 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,701,439. The stock has a market cap of $27.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.36, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.85. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $69.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.41 and a 12-month high of $78.84.
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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 34.76%. The company had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $769.43 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Equity Residential's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Equity Residential Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.6925 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Equity Residential's payout ratio is currently 105.73%.
Insider Activity at Equity Residential
In other Equity Residential news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $384,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,558,634.42. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,840,340.34. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Equity Residential Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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