Equity Residential $EQR Shares Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,223,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 178,057 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $329,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 3.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 13.9% in the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 96.1% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 11,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the second quarter worth about $100,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 170.7% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 13,018 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $66.25 on Wednesday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $57.57 and a 1-year high of $70.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.45 and a 200-day moving average of $62.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.18 and a quick ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $24.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.50 and a beta of 0.76.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.09). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 30.63%.The company had revenue of $779.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equity Residential has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.140 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.980-1.020 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 30th were given a $0.7025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on EQR. Scotiabank upped their price target on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.11.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.