Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 550 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,263 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vert Asset Management LLC raised its position in Equity Residential by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 150,245 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,782,000 after purchasing an additional 10,472 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at about $923,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Equity Residential by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 12.3% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 129,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,625,000 after acquiring an additional 14,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 3.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,008,341 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,461,000 after acquiring an additional 124,795 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.42.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $71.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $58.81 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.93.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In related news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,840,340.34. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $683,728.09. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,930,106.67. The trade was a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.