Brown Advisory Inc. Grows Stock Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 39.1% in the first quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,170,000 after purchasing an additional 24,232 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 234.7% in the first quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,122 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Residential in the first quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 15.3% in the first quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 12,414 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in Equity Residential by 5.4% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 156,759 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,672,000 after purchasing an additional 7,993 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $67.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 25.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $59.41 and a 12 month high of $78.84.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.13%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQR. Mizuho cut their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.19.

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.