Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Stock Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,570 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 34,395 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $17,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 4,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Summit Place Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,885 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 11,870 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 53,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EQR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho decreased their target price 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 decreased their target price 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.42.

Equity Residential Trading Down 0.1 %

Equity Residential stock opened at $71.56 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.78. The company has a market cap of $27.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.93. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $58.81 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is currently 99.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In related news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the business’s 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 $384,800.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,558,634.42. The trade was a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 4,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $309,425.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 14,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,016,622.48. This trade represents a 23.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently 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.