California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 17,987 Shares of Equity Residential $EQR

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 564,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 17,987 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.15% of Equity Residential worth $33,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,201,674,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Equity Residential by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,922,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,630,103,000 after buying an additional 688,854 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Equity Residential by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,258,275 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $644,412,000 after buying an additional 114,604 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,242,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $582,617,000 after acquiring an additional 44,127 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 227.7% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,405,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $466,869,000 after acquiring an additional 5,145,442 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EQR shares. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Equity Residential from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $78.25 to $79.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered Equity Residential from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wolfe Research raised Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.40.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $66.60 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $57.57 and a 1-year high of $71.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a PE ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.14.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly 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). Equity Residential had a net margin of 27.97% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $779.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $781.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 29th were issued a $0.7025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 29th. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 122.17%.

Equity Residential Company Profile

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.