Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 90,727 Shares of Equity Residential $EQR

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 11.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 727,533 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 90,727 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $43,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Equity Residential during the first quarter worth about $584,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Equity Residential by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 252,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,924,000 after purchasing an additional 47,895 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Equity Residential by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,068 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 46,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,754,000 after buying an additional 7,985 shares during the period. Finally, Conning Inc. raised its holdings in Equity Residential by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 11,725 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EQR. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Equity Residential from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $72.00 to $74.00 in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Equity Residential from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Equity Residential from $78.25 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Evercore lifted their price target on Equity Residential from $70.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, June 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.80.

Equity Residential Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $68.99 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $67.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.75. Equity Residential has a one year low of $57.57 and a one year high of $71.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.18 and a quick ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a PE ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 0.74.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $779.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $781.79 million. Equity Residential had a net margin of 30.63% and a return on equity of 8.57%. Equity Residential’s revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 4.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 29th were given a dividend of $0.7025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 29th. This represents a $2.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 112.40%.

About Equity Residential

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.