Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 16,875 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 661,041 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 16,875 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.17% of Equity Residential worth $41,718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 120.8% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 488 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, May 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CFO Robert Garechana sold 6,357 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 14,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,910.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Equity Residential stock traded up $0.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $71.45. 855,704 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,924,762. Equity Residential has a one year low of $52.57 and a one year high of $71.71. The stock has a market cap of $27.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.94.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

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.