Values First Advisors Inc. Invests $114,000 in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,533 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $114,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 69.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 475 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in Equity Residential by 41.9% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 146.6% in the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $74.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a PEG ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.61 and its 200 day moving average is $69.60. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on EQR shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.