Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Purchased by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 4.5% during the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 41.9% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 3.8% during the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 12.4% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,826 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 13,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $815,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Equity Residential from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.16.

Insider Activity

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

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE EQR traded down $0.09 on Friday, reaching $73.95. The stock had a trading volume of 329,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,918,729. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.75. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $52.57 and a 12-month high of $74.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business’s revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.03%.

About Equity Residential

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.