Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 92,073 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. decreased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 91.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 92,073 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,962,000 after acquiring an additional 152,736 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 146,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,965,000 after purchasing an additional 18,556 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,131,000 after purchasing an additional 20,010 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 551,960 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,482,000 after purchasing an additional 27,171 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 200.9% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Equity Residential

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.41.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Equity Residential stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $70.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,207,493 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,889,997. The stock has a market cap of $26.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.23. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $72.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.22.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.96 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. Equity Residential’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.03%.

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.