First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Sells 314 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. reduced its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,882 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 314 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 78.7% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 109,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,680,000 after buying an additional 48,112 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Equity Residential by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 146,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,965,000 after purchasing an additional 18,556 shares during the period. PGGM Investments purchased a new stake in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth approximately $169,000. Delta Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at $932,000. Finally, TAP Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. TAP Consulting LLC now owns 47,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,895,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the company’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 $50,632.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total value of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $636,465.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,860 shares of company stock valued at $566,034 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $65.91 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $25.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.02. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.23.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The firm had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on EQR shares. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.04.

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.