3,455 Shares in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Acquired by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EQR. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 7,291 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Equity Residential by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 60,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,701,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Equity Residential by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 120.8% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 1,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,479.79. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.04.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $64.90 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.81. The firm has a market cap of $24.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $69.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

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.