Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Bought by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 7.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 47,067 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,435 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $2,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth about $1,822,309,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 35.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 7,569,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $446,588,000 after purchasing an additional 1,983,672 shares during the period. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 5,224.3% during the 4th quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 1,474,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,446,762 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 15,579.8% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,317,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $77,709,000 after purchasing an additional 1,308,700 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,663,386 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $452,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158,159 shares during the period. 84.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EQR shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $60.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. TheStreet upgraded Equity Residential from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upgraded Equity Residential from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $63.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, June 9th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Equity Residential from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $62.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.94.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.3 %

EQR opened at $63.80 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.11. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $54.60 and a 1-year high of $77.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.82.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 26th were paid a $0.6625 dividend. This represents a $2.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 23rd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 119.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.04, for a total transaction of $165,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 22,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.69% of the company’s stock.

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 304 properties consisting of 80,212 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.