VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Acquires New Shares in Equity Residential $EQR

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 168,085 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $11,418,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 375.2% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Equity Residential in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EQR. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $70.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $69.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Equity Residential from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.40.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $63.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.69, a P/E/G ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.73. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $57.57 and a 12-month high of $71.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $66.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.60.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.01. Equity Residential had a net margin of 27.97% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $785.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $787.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th were paid a dividend of $0.7025 per share. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 29th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 122.17%.

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.