Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 61,251 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 52.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 178,041 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 61,251 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $12,345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EQR. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 41.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Equity Residential during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $74.34 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.51. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $76.75. The stock has a market cap of $28.22 billion, a PE ratio of 30.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The company had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EQR. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.84.

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.