Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 115,065 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,642,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,065 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.96% of Equity Residential worth $240,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 41,457,571 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,487,454,000 after acquiring an additional 878,998 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,822,309,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 5.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,983,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,515,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269,082 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Equity Residential by 8.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,062,840 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,083,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415,255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its stake in Equity Residential by 7.7% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 7,912,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $474,727,000 after purchasing an additional 566,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EQR shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 2nd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Equity Residential from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $62.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $60.00 to $59.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wedbush assumed coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, October 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman David J. Neithercut sold 25,000 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Friday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.25, for a total value of $1,356,250.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,016. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $55.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $69.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $58.08 and its 200 day moving average is $62.31. The company has a market cap of $21.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.79, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.86.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 26th were paid a $0.6625 dividend. This represents a $2.65 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 25th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 147.22%.

Equity Residential 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.