State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Stake in Equity Residential $EQR

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 154,637 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 543 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $10,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,733 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $768,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 26,049 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,865,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 23.4% during the 2nd quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 1,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.57.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR opened at $63.43 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.17. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.32. The firm has a market cap of $24.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.99. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%.The business had revenue of $768.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.60 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 25th were given a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 25th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.53%.

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.