Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 158,729 Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 158,729 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $11,390,000. Equity Residential accounts for about 2.3% of Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Equity Residential by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 483,753 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,714,000 after purchasing an additional 263,622 shares during the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 150,245 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,782,000 after acquiring an additional 10,472 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on EQR. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.94.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR stock opened at $69.93 on Monday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $59.41 and a 1-year high of $78.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.00 and its 200 day moving average is $70.95. The company has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS 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 company had revenue of $760.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.43 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

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

Equity Residential 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.