Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Bought by Forsta AP Fonden

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 43.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 40,400 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $9,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Equity Residential Stock Performance

EQR stock opened at $69.80 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.66. The company has a market capitalization of $26.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.33 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 110.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EQR shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho reduced their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.36.

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.