Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 454 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EQR. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased 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 during the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 229.8% in the 1st quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 554 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Equity Residential by 207.7% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.79% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
EQR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James raised Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.68.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on EQR
Insider Activity
In related news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. 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 insiders.
Equity Residential Trading Up 1.2 %
NYSE:EQR opened at $63.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $69.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.57. The stock has a market cap of $24.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.84.
Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 29.07%. The business had revenue of $727.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $725.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Equity Residential Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 22nd. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 120.45%.
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.
Featured Articles
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EQR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Equity Residential Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Equity Residential and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.