Cohen & Steers Inc. Increases Stake in Equity Residential $EQR

Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 227.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,405,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,145,442 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $466,869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Equity Residential by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,543 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Summitry LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 6.3% in the third quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 3,193 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 5.4% in the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 3,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Equity Residential by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,165 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on EQR shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus set a $70.00 price target on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $72.00 price target (down from $78.00) on shares of Equity Residential in a report on Friday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $78.25 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.55.

Equity Residential Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Equity Residential stock opened at $67.32 on Friday. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.57 and a fifty-two week high of $70.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a current ratio of 0.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.67. The company has a market cap of $25.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.29 and a beta of 0.75.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.09). Equity Residential had a net margin of 30.63% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $779.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equity Residential has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.140 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.980-1.020 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Equity Residential will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, March 30th were issued a $0.7025 dividend. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 30th. This is a positive change from Equity Residential’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.69. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is presently 112.40%.

Equity Residential Profile

Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates rental apartment properties. Headquartered in Chicago, the company focuses on delivering professionally managed, market-rate apartment homes and related services to renters. Its operations cover a range of property types, including high-rise and mid-rise assets, with amenities and on-site management designed to support resident retention and occupancy.

The company’s core activities include property acquisitions, development and redevelopment, leasing, and day-to-day property management.