Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 5,187 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 78,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,187 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $5,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 806.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,259,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $317,136,000 after acquiring an additional 3,789,234 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,804,000 after buying an additional 1,741,840 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,737,000 after buying an additional 591,866 shares during the period. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2,193.2% in the 3rd quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 416,647 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,024,000 after buying an additional 398,478 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 100.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 691,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,590,000 after buying an additional 347,085 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.51.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $69.85 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $70.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a one year low of $59.48 and a one year high of $78.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.52 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.91.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.6925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 99.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,840,340.34. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 4,294 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $309,425.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,016,622.48. The trade was a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Equity Residential

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.