Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Sold by Hazelview Securities Inc.

Hazelview Securities Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 8.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 311,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 27,700 shares during the period. Equity Residential accounts for 3.6% of Hazelview Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Hazelview Securities Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $19,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 5,320 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 39.3% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 234,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,739,000 after buying an additional 65,982 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 3rd quarter valued at about $83,000. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 50,084 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,941,000 after buying an additional 2,001 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI cut Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total value of $212,220.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,720 shares in the company, valued at $636,465.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Alexander Brackenridge sold 4,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.01, for a total value of $261,795.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,901 shares in the company, valued at $4,544,264.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kay Haben sold 3,241 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.48, for a total value of $212,220.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,465.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQR traded down $0.50 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $68.09. The company had a trading volume of 486,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,993,854. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.23 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $65.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.69. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.57.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be given a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.97%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

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.