Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 200 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 32.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 811 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in 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 worth $1,279,095,000 after purchasing an additional 381,236 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 482.3% in the second 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. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings 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 valued at $346,794,000 after buying an additional 60,000 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 4.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,715,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $171,368,000 after buying an additional 112,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 20.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,180,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $151,174,000 after acquiring an additional 373,229 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $73.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $27.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $73.89 and its 200 day moving average is $68.84. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $78.83.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th were paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on EQR shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America cut Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.97.

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.