Inspire Advisors LLC Buys 537 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,194 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 537 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $576,737,000 after purchasing an additional 591,866 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 2,529.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Equity Residential by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 28,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,089,000 after purchasing an additional 6,280 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 997 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 129,125 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,615,000 after purchasing an additional 17,948 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQR. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.25 price target on Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.51.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $69.87 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.91. 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 52-week low of $59.48 and a 52-week high of $78.84.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $384,800.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares in the company, valued at $2,558,634.42. This represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,340.34. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Equity Residential

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.