Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Grows Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,399 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $2,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,279,095,000 after buying an additional 381,236 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $709,349,000 after acquiring an additional 71,716 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 482.3% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,040,000 after purchasing an additional 5,925,177 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,527,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $338,058,000 after purchasing an additional 309,796 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.7% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,941,360 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $311,849,000 after purchasing an additional 34,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $77.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $78.83. The company has a market cap of $29.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $72.53 and its 200-day moving average is $67.52.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on EQR shares. Wedbush upped their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.62.

About Equity Residential

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.