D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Has $5.48 Million Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 70.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,386 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 184,734 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $5,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Equity Residential by 119.8% in 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 buying an additional 263,622 shares during the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 7.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 10,472 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth approximately $321,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on EQR shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of 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, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.69.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $71.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.87 and its 200 day moving average is $70.86. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.41 and a one year high of $78.84. The firm has a market cap of $27.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

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

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. 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%.

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.