Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Sold by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio lowered its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 406,854 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 64,682 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned 0.11% of Equity Residential worth $24,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,395,793 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,369,707,000 after purchasing an additional 372,181 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,822,309,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 5.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,983,779 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,515,182,000 after buying an additional 1,269,082 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 7.7% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 7,912,891 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $474,727,000 after buying an additional 566,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,839,640 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $469,403,000 after buying an additional 176,762 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335. 1.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EQR. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.32.

Equity Residential Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE EQR traded down $0.97 on Tuesday, hitting $59.69. 1,358,304 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,060,533. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $69.45.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $727.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $725.07 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 29.07%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is a positive change from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential's payout ratio is currently 122.73%.

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.