Global X Japan Co. Ltd. Takes $57,000 Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,577,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. AGF Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,066,000. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 490.8% in the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 29,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 24,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EQR. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.09.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $76.86 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $71.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $76.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.14 billion, a PE ratio of 31.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 0.89.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The firm had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.03%.

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.