Nomura Holdings Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 50,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,651,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 607.8% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Equity Residential by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 109.5% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 208.1% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 610 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Up 2.5%

Equity Residential stock opened at $70.82 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 34.76%. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.6925 dividend. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 105.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EQR shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.69.

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.