American Investment Services Inc. Has $252,000 Stock Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

American Investment Services Inc. lowered its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 6.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 241 shares during the quarter. American Investment Services Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Equity Residential by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,962,000 after buying an additional 152,736 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 165,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,131,000 after buying an additional 20,010 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 200.9% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,279,095,000 after buying an additional 381,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential in the 2nd quarter worth $3,893,000. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Equity Residential from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.62.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $76.58 on Monday. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $52.57 and a 1 year high of $78.83. The stock has a market capitalization 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’s 50-day moving average is $72.72 and its 200 day moving average is $67.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

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

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 112.03%.

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.