Brandes Investment Partners LP Acquires 56,490 Shares of Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC)

Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC) by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 670,692 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 56,490 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned approximately 0.63% of Equity Commonwealth worth $13,004,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity Commonwealth by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,255,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $306,896,000 after purchasing an additional 60,382 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Equity Commonwealth by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,709,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $71,970,000 after buying an additional 50,864 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity Commonwealth by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,718,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,454,000 after buying an additional 7,837 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Equity Commonwealth by 15.6% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,284,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,259,000 after buying an additional 173,413 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Equity Commonwealth by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,244,666 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,898,000 after purchasing an additional 9,049 shares during the last quarter. 96.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Commonwealth Stock Performance

Shares of EQC stock opened at $19.82 on Monday. Equity Commonwealth has a fifty-two week low of $17.93 and a fifty-two week high of $21.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09 and a beta of 0.28.

Equity Commonwealth announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the real estate investment trust to buy up to 6.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Equity Commonwealth Profile

Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) is a Chicago based, internally managed and self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) with commercial office properties in the United States. EQC's portfolio is comprised of four properties totaling 1.5 million square feet.