Natixis Grows Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Natixis increased its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 49.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 197,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 65,690 shares during the period. Natixis owned about 0.05% of Equity Residential worth $12,471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Saturna Capital Corp increased its stake in Equity Residential by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 6,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 751,204 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,434,000 after purchasing an additional 16,844 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,705,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 126,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,952,000 after purchasing an additional 16,077 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $69.52. 2,537,276 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,935,875. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $67.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.80. The firm has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.05, a PEG ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.87. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $71.40.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The firm had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $728.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total transaction of $212,220.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at $636,465.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Equity Residential from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.53.

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.