Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Acquired by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rye Brook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Rye Brook Capital LLC now owns 50,050 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 7,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Bear Mountain Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Conning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 39,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,428,000 after buying an additional 3,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth about $1,278,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lowered their price target on Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Raymond James raised Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.32.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $60.40 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $52.57 and a 1 year high of $69.45. The company has a market capitalization of $22.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.62.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $727.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $725.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 122.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 SEC, which is available at 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 stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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. Insiders have sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 in the last quarter. 1.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.