Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 50,884 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $3,651,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EQR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth about $2,493,426,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Equity Residential by 53.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $464,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246,555 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $468,050,000 after purchasing an additional 696,343 shares during the period. Adelante Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 172.1% during the fourth quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,077,337 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $77,310,000 after purchasing an additional 681,356 shares during the period. Finally, Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 79.1% during the fourth quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC now owns 1,161,137 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $83,323,000 after purchasing an additional 512,723 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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 research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $79.69.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:EQR traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $71.35. 1,571,687 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,731,918. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.84. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $27.11 billion, a PE ratio of 26.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.43 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Equity Residential's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.6925 dividend. This is an increase from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.