Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 1,719 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,199 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,719 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $3,105,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of EQR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 12,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $770,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 376.2% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 881 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at $1,110,000. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 99,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,099,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on EQR. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded 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 note on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.53.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of EQR stock opened at $71.29 on Tuesday. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $71.78. The business’s fifty day moving average is $67.49 and its 200 day moving average is $64.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The company has a market capitalization of $27.06 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.87.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were given a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

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.