Makena Capital Management LLC Takes $9.95 Million Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Makena Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 143,420 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $9,945,000. Equity Residential comprises about 2.3% of Makena Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,279,095,000 after buying an additional 381,236 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $709,349,000 after purchasing an additional 71,716 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 482.3% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,040,000 after buying an additional 5,925,177 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,527,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $338,058,000 after purchasing an additional 309,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.2% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,001,360 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $346,794,000 after acquiring an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQR. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.97.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $74.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $73.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.93. The company has a market cap of $28.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 112.03%.

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.