Swiss National Bank Sells 32,000 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Swiss National Bank decreased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,125,950 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 32,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.30% of Equity Residential worth $68,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 593.9% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 458 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc bought a new position in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA bought a new position in Equity Residential during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EQR shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James upgraded Equity Residential from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $67.04.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $66.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,443,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,113,179. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.45. The business's 50 day moving average price is $62.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.08. The company has a market cap of $25.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.82.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is an increase from Equity Residential's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential's payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,860 shares of company stock worth $566,034 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

About Equity Residential

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.