Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Buys Shares of 7,036 Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $524,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Equity Residential by 36.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,962,000 after acquiring an additional 152,736 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 200.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,279,095,000 after buying an additional 381,236 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the second quarter valued at about $3,893,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the first quarter valued at about $1,672,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $74.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.98, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $74.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.60.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th were given 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 3.62%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EQR. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America cut Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 target price for the company. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.97.

Equity Residential Company 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.