Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Bought by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank lifted its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 3,784 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $5,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,279,095,000 after acquiring an additional 381,236 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 482.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.2% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,001,360 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $346,794,000 after buying an additional 60,000 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in Equity Residential by 4.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,715,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,368,000 after buying an additional 112,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 20.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,180,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,174,000 after buying an additional 373,229 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EQR. Wedbush lifted their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.97.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.6 %

EQR opened at $72.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.39 billion, a PE ratio of 29.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.89. 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 fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.80 and a 200-day moving average of $68.69.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued 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 business had revenue of $734.20 million for 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%. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 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.