Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Buys 635 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 122.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,822,309,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Equity Residential by 68.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,416,565 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $259,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,795,772 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Equity Residential by 5.4% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Long Pond Capital LP acquired a new position in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,361,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Equity Residential by 34.9% during the 1st 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 last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James raised Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Eleven investment 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.32.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at $1,384,252.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335. 1.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $61.54 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.32 billion, a PE ratio of 27.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $69.45.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $727.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $725.07 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 29.07% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 25th were paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 122.73%.

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.