Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Short Interest Update

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,670,000 shares, a growth of 16.2% from the February 13th total of 5,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.2 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on EQR. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho lowered 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.51.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 4,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $309,425.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,016,622.48. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $384,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,558,634.42. This represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $576,737,000 after acquiring an additional 591,866 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 2,529.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 129,125 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,615,000 after buying an additional 17,948 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Equity Residential by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 50,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,784,000 after buying an additional 3,437 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,713 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR stock opened at $70.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $70.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.48 and a one year high of $78.84. The firm has a market cap of $26.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.91.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.6925 dividend. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.26%.

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.