KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Grows Stake in Equity Residential $EQR

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 119,994 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $8,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the first quarter worth about $165,442,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 5.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,711,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,482,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,027 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 190.9% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 674,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,272,000 after purchasing an additional 442,584 shares during the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the first quarter worth about $27,944,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 8.3% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,560,478 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $326,439,000 after purchasing an additional 350,095 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on EQR. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.32.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $61.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.90. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $59.41 and a 52 week high of $78.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $64.41 and a 200 day moving average of $66.94.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99. The company had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 33.22% and a return on equity of 9.05%. Equity Residential’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. Equity Residential has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.970-4.030 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.990-1.030 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th will be paid a $0.6925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 104.53%.

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.