Diversified Trust Co Acquires New Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 11,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $738,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 593.9% in the third quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 120.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $68.20 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $69.65.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its 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. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total value of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at $636,465.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,625 shares of company stock worth $913,158 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Piper Sandler upgraded Equity Residential from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.09.

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.