Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Purchased by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,979 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $4,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Texas Yale Capital Corp. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 60,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,341,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 51.9% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,404 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,504 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Equity Residential by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 226,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,221,000 after acquiring an additional 32,236 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Equity Residential by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 16,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 8.1% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EQR shares. Barclays decreased their target price on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.78.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR stock opened at $63.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $66.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.73. The company has a market capitalization of $24.28 billion, a PE ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.92.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.99. The company had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th were given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 104.53%.

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.