Inspire Investing LLC Purchases 1,263 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $3,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EQR. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Equity Residential by 482.3% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $496,040,000 after purchasing an additional 5,925,177 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 679.0% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 594,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,528,000 after acquiring an additional 518,424 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 39.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,676,445 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $116,245,000 after acquiring an additional 475,124 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 77.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,061,862 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $67,014,000 after acquiring an additional 463,664 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 793.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 444,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,071,000 after acquiring an additional 395,029 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:EQR opened at $73.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.84. 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 (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). The company had revenue of $734.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 32.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is presently 112.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.97.

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.