First Trust Advisors LP Buys 57,465 Shares of Equity Residential $EQR

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 867,742 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 57,465 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $51,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Equity Residential by 3.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 13.9% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 4,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 96.1% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 11,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Equity Residential in the 2nd quarter worth about $100,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity Residential by 170.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 13,018 shares in the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EQR has been the topic of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Equity Residential in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Equity Residential from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Equity Residential from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $76.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.40.

Equity Residential Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:EQR opened at $67.87 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $67.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.96. Equity Residential has a 12-month low of $57.57 and a 12-month high of $71.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.09). Equity Residential had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 27.97%.The company had revenue of $779.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $781.79 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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 anticipate that Equity Residential will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.7025 dividend. This represents a $2.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 29th. Equity Residential’s payout ratio is 122.17%.

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.