GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. Invests $37,000 in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 519 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 51.6% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 740 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 765 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of EQR stock opened at $64.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $24.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $66.75 and a 200-day moving average of $68.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $59.41 and a 1-year high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.99. The company had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 24th. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 104.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.50 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $72.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given 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 $77.84.

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.