Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. grew its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 12.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 146,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 16,063 shares during the period. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $10,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in Equity Residential by 41.9% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 525 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 146.6% in the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the first quarter worth $41,000. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EQR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America downgraded Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $82.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.97.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.8 %

EQR stock opened at $73.88 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.04 billion, a PE ratio of 30.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $73.43 and a 200 day moving average of $68.28.

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

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 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.