SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 68,635 Shares of Equity Residential $EQR

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 96.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 68,635 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Equity Residential by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,821 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its position in Equity Residential by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in Equity Residential by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 129,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,452,000 after purchasing an additional 9,400 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.1% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,178,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 9.7% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EQR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $79.75 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.01.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $61.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.75. Equity Residential has a one year low of $58.38 and a one year high of $75.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.92.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.02. The business had revenue of $782.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $779.68 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 10.30% and a net margin of 37.58%.During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 91.42%.

Equity Residential Company Profile

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.