Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 871 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 401.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 871 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $78,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,922,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,796,976,000 after acquiring an additional 321,002 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $694,441,000 after acquiring an additional 132,638 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,897,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $566,749,000 after acquiring an additional 152,248 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 29.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 806.4% in the 3rd 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 worth $317,136,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on EQR shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.42.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $384,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,507 shares in the company, valued at $2,558,634.42. The trade was a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $683,728.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,930,106.67. The trade was a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.0 %

EQR opened at $71.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $58.81 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $70.59 and its 200 day moving average is $72.78. The stock has a market cap of $27.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.