Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Equity Residential $EQR

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 42,383 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,860,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EQR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 56,000,934 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,008,547,000 after acquiring an additional 199,943 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Equity Residential by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,711,588 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,482,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,027 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,634,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $474,894,000 after purchasing an additional 112,004 shares in the last quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd now owns 5,077,065 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $363,416,000 after purchasing an additional 185,876 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 4.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,696,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $336,152,000 after purchasing an additional 198,344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of EQR stock opened at $62.23 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.07. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $59.41 and a 1-year high of $78.32. The company has a market cap of $23.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.17.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99. The company had revenue of $768.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $770.60 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 33.22%.The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business 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, research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is Thursday, September 25th. This represents a $2.77 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.53%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Equity Residential from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. BNP Paribas lowered Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Equity Residential from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. UBS Group cut their target price on Equity Residential from $84.00 to $76.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Equity Residential from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.32.

Equity Residential Company 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.