GAMMA Investing LLC Makes New $208,000 Investment in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 3,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,566 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at about $210,000. Czech National Bank grew its stake in Equity Residential by 49.3% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 60,284 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,539,000 after purchasing an additional 19,915 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 264.0% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 374,059 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,961,000 after purchasing an additional 271,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 8.0% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 48,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,863,000 after purchasing an additional 3,595 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity Residential

In other Equity Residential news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Ian Kaufman sold 716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $41,384.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,384,252.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Garechana sold 876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total value of $50,632.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,933 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,927.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,280 shares of company stock valued at $192,335 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on Equity Residential from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Raymond James upgraded Equity Residential from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $64.00 price target for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Equity Residential presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.04.

Equity Residential Price Performance

NYSE EQR opened at $64.90 on Friday. Equity Residential has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $69.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.59 billion, a PE ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.81.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 31.70%. The business had revenue of $730.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $728.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Equity Residential will post 3.85 EPS for the current year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 25th were issued a $0.675 dividend. This is a boost from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 22nd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is 112.03%.

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.