Fiduciary Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Fiduciary Group LLC lowered its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,447 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 413 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,395,793 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,369,707,000 after purchasing an additional 372,181 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 1.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,457,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $320,386,000 after purchasing an additional 94,511 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 13.8% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,206,249 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $305,659,000 after purchasing an additional 629,813 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 68.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,416,565 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $259,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795,772 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Equity Residential by 5.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,136,866 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $242,876,000 after buying an additional 203,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total transaction of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,479.79. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,209,927.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 1,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.43, for a total value of $97,405.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,479.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $65.14 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.84. The stock has a market cap of $24.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $52.57 and a fifty-two week high of $69.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 31.70% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 22nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on EQR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.61.

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.