Sarasin & Partners LLP Trims Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Sarasin & Partners LLP cut its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 97,124 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,093 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $6,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 23,922,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,796,976,000 after buying an additional 321,002 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,353,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $694,441,000 after buying an additional 132,638 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 29.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,804,000 after buying an additional 1,741,840 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 8.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,737,000 after buying an additional 591,866 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 806.4% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,259,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $317,136,000 after buying an additional 3,789,234 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EQR shares. StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Bank of America lowered Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Equity Residential from $81.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.69.

Equity Residential Stock Down 0.7 %

EQR stock opened at $69.78 on Monday. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $57.33 and a 1-year high of $78.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $72.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.93.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.