Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Acquired by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 53.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,246,555 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $464,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,493,426,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $837,050,000 after purchasing an additional 57,660 shares during the period. 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 worth $681,594,000 after buying an additional 165,683 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,897,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $566,749,000 after buying an additional 152,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 12.0% during 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 buying an additional 696,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR opened at $69.51 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $26.40 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.22. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 34.76%. The business had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.93 EPS. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 101.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.25 target price on Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten 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, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.01.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,340.34. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $683,728.09. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at $1,930,106.67. This represents a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.