Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock Position Raised by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,493,426,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $837,050,000 after acquiring an additional 57,660 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $681,594,000 after acquiring an additional 165,683 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $468,050,000 after acquiring an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $464,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,246,555 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $68.72 on Wednesday. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 26.23, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.11% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The business had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.43 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on EQR. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

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.