Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Buys 4,878 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 701,418 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 4,878 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $50,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,493,426,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $837,050,000 after buying an additional 57,660 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $681,594,000 after buying an additional 165,683 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $468,050,000 after buying an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 53.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $464,718,000 after buying an additional 2,246,555 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $69.12 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $69.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.95. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.11% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EQR. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.25.

Equity Residential Company 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.