State of Alaska Department of Revenue Has $15.78 Million Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 250,021 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 10,170 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $15,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew 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 worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 13,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $815,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in Equity Residential by 0.3% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 60,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Equity Residential by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 67,535 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,130,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Equity Residential by 120.8% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on EQR. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Equity Residential from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.09.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $67.49. The company had a trading volume of 713,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,973,196. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $69.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.36 and a 200-day moving average of $62.98. The firm has a market cap of $25.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.87.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 112.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $636,465.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,625 shares of company stock worth $913,158. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equity Residential 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.