Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Shares Bought by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,224,576 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,099 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $374,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 607.8% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 361 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 109.5% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 551 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Equity Residential by 208.1% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 610 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EQR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Equity Residential from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued 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 $78.51.

Equity Residential Stock Performance

Equity Residential stock opened at $68.16 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.41. The stock has a market cap of $25.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Equity Residential has a 1-year low of $59.41 and a 1-year high of $78.84.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.6925 per share. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of Equity Residential 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at $1,930,106.67. This trade represents a 26.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 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 transaction of $384,800.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 35,507 shares in the company, valued at $2,558,634.42. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 over the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.