Insider Selling: Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) CAO Sells 642 Shares of Stock

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) CAO Ian Kaufman sold 642 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $46,262.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,539 shares in the company, valued at $1,840,340.34. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Equity Residential Price Performance

EQR traded up $0.53 on Tuesday, reaching $71.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,234,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,711,158. Equity Residential has a fifty-two week low of $57.33 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.83 and a 200-day moving average of $72.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $27.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.93.

Equity Residential Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. Equity Residential's payout ratio is presently 99.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity Residential

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 7,001 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 722 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Tobam raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 1,927 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 38.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Equity Residential by 69.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 475 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Equity Residential from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho cut their target price on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $74.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $78.36.

Equity Residential Company 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.