Sei Investments Co. Buys 84,382 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 7.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,146,244 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 84,382 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.30% of Equity Residential worth $79,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity Residential during the 4th quarter worth $208,000. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Equity Residential by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 887,030 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,251,000 after acquiring an additional 8,202 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 270,089 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,519,000 after acquiring an additional 6,026 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE:EQR opened at $76.58 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The company has a market cap of $29.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.65.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The company had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 112.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.62.

Insider Transactions at Equity Residential

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

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.