Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 180,766 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 7,976 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $11,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,739,000 after purchasing an additional 65,982 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,110,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 61.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 64,809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,805,000 after purchasing an additional 24,787 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 128.7% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 11,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 6,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 743,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,636,000 after purchasing an additional 82,773 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.75.

Equity Residential Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $64.61 on Thursday. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $69.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.80 and a 200 day moving average of $59.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.48 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.19%. The business had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

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.