abrdn plc Purchases 21,024 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 245,325 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 21,024 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $15,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,395,793 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,369,707,000 after acquiring an additional 372,181 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,457,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $320,386,000 after purchasing an additional 94,511 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Equity Residential by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,206,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $305,659,000 after buying an additional 629,813 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 68.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,416,565 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $259,297,000 after buying an additional 1,795,772 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Equity Residential by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,136,866 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $242,876,000 after buying an additional 203,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EQR. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James upgraded Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $64.61 on Thursday. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $69.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 29.07%. The business had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. 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. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 122.73%.

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 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.