Employees Retirement System of Texas Trims Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 32.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 160,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 77,000 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Equity Residential were worth $11,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1,847.4% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 269,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,452,000 after buying an additional 255,900 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Equity Residential by 101.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 60,857 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,195,000 after acquiring an additional 30,587 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,236,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 2nd quarter worth $803,000. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 51.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 65,344 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,531,000 after purchasing an additional 22,275 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $75.20 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $73.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $28.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.20, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $78.83.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of 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 research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.97.

Equity Residential 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.