Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Grows Stock Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 143.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 550 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $67,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Conning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $780,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 112,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,104,000 after buying an additional 6,651 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,011,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $144,336,000 after buying an additional 345,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanderbilt University boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 38,098 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after buying an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of Equity Residential 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,558,634.42. The trade was a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,840,340.34. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $71.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93. 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 one year low of $58.10 and a one year high of $78.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $70.72 and its 200-day moving average is $72.74.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.26%.

Equity Residential 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.