Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 8,178 Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,178 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Equity Residential by 119.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 483,753 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,714,000 after acquiring an additional 263,622 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $321,000. Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,210,383 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $302,137,000 after acquiring an additional 136,275 shares during the period. Finally, Starwood Capital Group Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Starwood Capital Group Management L.L.C. now owns 339,338 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,351,000 after acquiring an additional 70,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $68.77 on Friday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $59.41 and a fifty-two week high of $78.84. The company has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.29.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 34.76% and a return on equity of 9.27%. The company had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.43 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be issued a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EQR shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.25.

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.