Stableford Capital II LLC Takes Position in Equity Residential $EQR

Stableford Capital II LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 12,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $832,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 3.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 13.9% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 96.1% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 11,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in Equity Residential during the second quarter worth about $100,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 170.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 13,018 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $63.68 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market cap of $23.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a PEG ratio of 5.53 and a beta of 0.73. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.57 and a fifty-two week high of $71.50.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $785.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $787.28 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 27.97% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 29th were given a dividend of $0.7025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 29th. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 122.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EQR. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.40.

Equity Residential Profile

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.