Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Position Reduced by Sarasin & Partners LLP

Sarasin & Partners LLP lowered its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,217 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,836 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $7,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EQR. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Equity Residential by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,962,000 after purchasing an additional 152,736 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 200.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,861,000 after acquiring an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,279,095,000 after acquiring an additional 381,236 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,893,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,131,000 after acquiring an additional 20,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on EQR. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve investment 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.97.

Equity Residential Trading Up 0.7 %

EQR stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 91,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,883,805. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The stock has a market cap of $27.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.71.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 107.57%.

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.