Whittier Trust Co. Acquires 201 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,826 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 4.5% in the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 41.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 3.8% in the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 13,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $815,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.3% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 60,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,833,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $74.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $28.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $69.97 and a 200 day moving average of $65.75. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $52.57 and a 12 month high of $74.46.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced 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). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The firm had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.16.

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.