PGGM Investments Invests $169,000 in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

PGGM Investments acquired a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,771 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $169,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 264.0% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 374,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,961,000 after buying an additional 271,294 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 8.0% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 48,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,863,000 after purchasing an additional 3,595 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in Equity Residential during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,154,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 152,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,954,000 after buying an additional 2,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its position in Equity Residential by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 11,887 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $698,000 after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EQR shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,927.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock worth $192,335 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $65.30 on Tuesday. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $69.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.87. The stock has a market cap of $24.74 billion, a PE ratio of 27.10, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.675 dividend. This is an increase from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is presently 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.