Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Sold by Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 142,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,492 shares during the quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $10,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $496,040,000 after acquiring an additional 5,925,177 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 679.0% in 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 buying an additional 518,424 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $116,245,000 after buying an additional 475,124 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake 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 worth $67,014,000 after buying an additional 463,664 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew 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 worth $28,071,000 after buying an additional 395,029 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on EQR shares. BNP Paribas began coverage on Equity Residential in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $83.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.19.

Equity Residential Stock Down 1.8 %

Equity Residential stock opened at $69.12 on Friday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $53.28 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.13.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th were paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 110.66%.

Equity Residential 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.