Legal & General Group Plc Reduces Stock Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,719,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 408,754 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.51% of Equity Residential worth $396,613,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,279,095,000 after purchasing an additional 381,236 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $709,349,000 after acquiring an additional 71,716 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 482.3% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,040,000 after acquiring an additional 5,925,177 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 5.9% in 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 period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Equity Residential by 1.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 60,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $73.97 on Friday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The company has a market cap of $28.08 billion, a PE ratio of 30.69, a P/E/G ratio of 5.60 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.09.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The company had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush lifted their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.