Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Purchased by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 950,498 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,173 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $58,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 7,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 60,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,701,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 1,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.04.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $64.90 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $69.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.89 and a 200-day moving average of $59.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.59 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In related news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Equity Residential

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.