Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,480,000 shares, an increase of 15.4% from the June 30th total of 4,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,780,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Equity Residential Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $70.77 on Monday. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $71.40. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.37, a PEG ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.87.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 112.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $439,141.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,143,388,000. Davis Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,160,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 9,325,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $570,333,000 after purchasing an additional 516,941 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 39.6% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,676,445 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $116,245,000 after purchasing an additional 475,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 77.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,061,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $67,014,000 after purchasing an additional 463,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

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.