Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 234.9% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 12,882 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 9,035 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 45.5% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,761 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 85.2% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,356 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,021,000 after purchasing an additional 5,224 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the first quarter worth about $687,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 8.5% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,295 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.32.

Equity Residential Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:EQR opened at $59.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.39 and a 200-day moving average of $59.61. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $69.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its 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). The company had revenue of $727.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $725.07 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.52%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 122.73%.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the business’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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the business’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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the business’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 transaction, 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 three months, insiders sold 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335. Company insiders own 1.69% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential 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 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.