Aurora Investment Managers LLC. Grows Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Aurora Investment Managers LLC. increased its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 3,569 shares during the period. Equity Residential comprises approximately 2.4% of Aurora Investment Managers LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Aurora Investment Managers LLC.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $3,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Equity Residential by 482.3% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,040,000 after buying an additional 5,925,177 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 679.0% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 594,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,528,000 after acquiring an additional 518,424 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,676,445 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $116,245,000 after acquiring an additional 475,124 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,061,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,014,000 after acquiring an additional 463,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 793.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 444,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,071,000 after acquiring an additional 395,029 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on EQR shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $77.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America lowered shares of Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $82.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.97.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $75.10. 136,355 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,867,927. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.12. The firm has a market cap of $28.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.07, a PEG ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 was Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

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.