Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Lowers Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,089 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 1.9% during 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 482.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,925,177 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Equity Residential by 1.2% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in Equity Residential by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,715,151 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,368,000 after purchasing an additional 112,270 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,180,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $151,174,000 after purchasing an additional 373,229 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of EQR opened at $73.09 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $73.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. 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 has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-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). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on EQR shares. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target 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. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity Residential 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.