State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 23,262 Shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 8.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 240,174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 23,262 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned approximately 0.06% of Equity Residential worth $17,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 36.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 569,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,962,000 after acquiring an additional 152,736 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 200.9% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 77,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,861,000 after purchasing an additional 51,423 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Equity Residential by 1.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,267,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,279,095,000 after purchasing an additional 381,236 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential during the second quarter worth about $3,893,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Equity Residential in the 1st quarter worth about $1,672,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Shares of EQR opened at $74.67 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 52-week low of $52.57 and a 52-week high of $78.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.17 and a beta of 0.89.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced 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 the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 24th were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 24th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 107.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EQR. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Equity Residential from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Equity Residential from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $69.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $82.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.97.

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.