Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $362.84 Million Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,232,876 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,933 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.38% of Equity Residential worth $362,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.9% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 381,236 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,598,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $709,349,000 after purchasing an additional 71,716 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 482.3% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,040,000 after purchasing an additional 5,925,177 shares during the period. Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,527,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $338,058,000 after purchasing an additional 309,796 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.7% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,941,360 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $311,849,000 after purchasing an additional 34,000 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

In related news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho increased their price target on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.62.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR stock opened at $77.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $71.97 and its 200-day moving average is $67.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $52.57 and a 1 year high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.03%.

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.