Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Stock Position Cut by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 6.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,164 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 441 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 607.8% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Equity Residential by 51.6% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in Equity Residential by 109.5% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Equity Residential by 38.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target 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. Scotiabank reduced their target price 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. Truist Financial boosted their target price 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. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.25.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $68.80 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.07. The company has a market cap of $26.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.41 and a 12-month high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.11% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.73%.

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.