Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Purchases 2,315 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,220,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,315 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.32% of Equity Residential worth $74,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,822,309,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 68.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,416,565 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $259,297,000 after buying an additional 1,795,772 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Equity Residential by 5.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,983,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,515,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269,082 shares during the period. Long Pond Capital LP bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth about $63,361,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Equity Residential by 34.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,647,722 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $328,002,000 after acquiring an additional 943,870 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.69% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $60.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $52.57 and a 1-year high of $69.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.92 billion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.62.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by ($0.18). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 29.07%. The company had revenue of $727.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $725.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is currently 122.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.32.

Equity Residential 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.