1,505 Shares in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Purchased by Sherman Asset Management Inc.

Sherman Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $107,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,233,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 115.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,678 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 3,585 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Equity Residential by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 31,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,324,000 after buying an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 66.5% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Equity Residential by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 165,230 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,534,000 after buying an additional 16,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on EQR. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.46.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.5 %

EQR opened at $74.06 on Friday. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.19 and a one year high of $78.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $70.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,340.34. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $683,728.09. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at $1,930,106.67. This trade represents a 26.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 over the last ninety days. 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.