Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 165,057 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 173 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $11,844,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,922,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,796,976,000 after acquiring an additional 321,002 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,353,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $694,441,000 after purchasing an additional 132,638 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Equity Residential by 29.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $576,804,000 after buying an additional 1,741,840 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Equity Residential by 8.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $576,737,000 after buying an additional 591,866 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 806.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,259,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $317,136,000 after buying an additional 3,789,234 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EQR shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 4,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $309,425.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,108 shares in the company, valued at $1,016,622.48. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,840,340.34. This trade represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $71.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a one year low of $58.81 and a one year high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.19, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is $70.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.73.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 99.26%.

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.