Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Has $3.19 Million Stake in Equity Residential $EQR

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 369.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 46,936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,936 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $3,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,004,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $204,088,000 after buying an additional 133,118 shares during the last quarter. S&G Foundation bought a new stake in Equity Residential during the second quarter worth about $81,516,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Equity Residential during the second quarter worth about $1,908,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the second quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 15.9% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 6,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 961 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.40.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.0%

EQR opened at $63.68 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.61. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $57.57 and a 1-year high of $71.50. The stock has a market cap of $23.88 billion, a PE ratio of 27.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.01. Equity Residential had a net margin of 27.97% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $785.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $787.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 29th were paid a $0.7025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 29th. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 122.17%.

Equity Residential Profile

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.