Toronto Dominion Bank Purchases 12,654 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 182,560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,654 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $13,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 119.8% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 483,753 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,714,000 after purchasing an additional 263,622 shares during the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC grew its position in Equity Residential by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 150,245 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,782,000 after buying an additional 10,472 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH raised its position in Equity Residential by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EQR shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.69.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $71.13 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $27.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $59.41 and a 52-week high of $78.84. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $68.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.86.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $769.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.73%.

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.