Renaissance Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Renaissance Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,598 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 223 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Group LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EQR. FIL Ltd lifted its position in Equity Residential by 113.2% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 269,654 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,350,000 after purchasing an additional 143,194 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised 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 valued at $468,050,000 after buying an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 258,020 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,155,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its position in Equity Residential by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 63,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,564,000 after acquiring an additional 17,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Equity Residential by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 203,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,611,000 after acquiring an additional 33,057 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 4,294 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $309,425.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 14,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,016,622.48. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $683,728.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at $1,930,106.67. This represents a 26.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $82.25 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.51.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR opened at $61.68 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $59.48 and a 12-month high of $78.84. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.90.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 101.84%.

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.