Amalgamated Bank Sells 1,148 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,873 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,148 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $4,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EQR. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 21.4% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 81,026 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,618,000 after buying an additional 14,267 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 18.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 7,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,941,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 208,819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,480,000 after purchasing an additional 22,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 152,649 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,144,000 after purchasing an additional 2,463 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on EQR. Wells Fargo & Company cut Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.62.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $76.58 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $78.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.65. The company has a market capitalization of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 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 (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $439,141.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.