Waterloo Capital L.P. Takes Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $429,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EQR. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Equity Residential by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 887,030 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,251,000 after acquiring an additional 8,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE EQR opened at $77.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $29.25 billion, a PE ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $78.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.53 and a 200-day moving average of $67.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on EQR. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy 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 $75.62.

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.