Legal & General Group Plc Boosts Position in Equity Residential $EQR

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,223,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 178,057 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.37% of Equity Residential worth $329,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Equity Residential by 2.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,597,658 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,728,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281,354 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in Equity Residential by 34.6% during the third quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 568,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,446,000 after purchasing an additional 146,148 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the third quarter worth $9,094,000. National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 4.6% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 605,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,194,000 after acquiring an additional 26,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the third quarter worth $4,232,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Argus set a $70.00 price target on Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Evercore boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.11.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $66.25 on Wednesday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.57 and a fifty-two week high of $70.31. The stock has a market cap of $24.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.45 and a 200-day moving average of $62.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $779.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $781.79 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 30.63% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Equity Residential has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.140 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.980-1.020 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 30th were paid a $0.7025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 30th. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 112.40%.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.