Deutsche Bank AG Purchases 276,645 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 27.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,275,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 276,645 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned 0.34% of Equity Residential worth $91,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equity Residential in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,493,426,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 11,664,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $837,050,000 after purchasing an additional 57,660 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,519,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $681,594,000 after buying an additional 165,683 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,897,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $566,749,000 after acquiring an additional 152,248 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $468,050,000 after purchasing an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR stock opened at $69.93 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a PE ratio of 25.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.41 and a one year high of $78.84.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 34.76%. The business had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $769.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on EQR. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Equity Residential from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.94.

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.