Sophron Capital Management L.P. Takes $15.66 Million Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Sophron Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 218,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $15,663,000. Equity Residential accounts for about 6.2% of Sophron Capital Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Sophron Capital Management L.P. owned 0.06% of Equity Residential at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in shares of 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. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,827 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in Equity Residential by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.3%

EQR opened at $71.77 on Monday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.84. The company has a market cap of $27.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.84.

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

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EQR shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently 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.