Sovran Advisors LLC Takes $255,000 Position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,651 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. State Street Corp grew 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.4% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 132,638 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 29.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,746,494 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $576,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,741,840 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Equity Residential by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,745,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $576,737,000 after acquiring an additional 591,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 806.4% in the 3rd 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 worth $317,136,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789,234 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In related news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $683,728.09. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,930,106.67. This represents a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of Equity Residential stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $46,262.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,840,340.34. This trade represents a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,763 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,217. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.36.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:EQR opened at $71.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $70.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.74. The company has a market capitalization of $27.15 billion, a PE ratio of 26.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $58.10 and a 1-year high of $78.83.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 99.26%.

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.