103,174 Shares in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) Purchased by Contravisory Investment Management Inc.

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 103,174 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $7,682,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 482.3% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,153,749 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $496,040,000 after buying an additional 5,925,177 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Equity Residential by 679.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 594,774 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,528,000 after purchasing an additional 518,424 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Equity Residential by 39.6% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,676,445 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $116,245,000 after purchasing an additional 475,124 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Equity Residential by 77.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,061,862 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $67,014,000 after purchasing an additional 463,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Equity Residential by 793.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 444,791 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $28,071,000 after purchasing an additional 395,029 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Shares of EQR traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $73.09. 1,032,752 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,888,760. The stock has a market cap of $27.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a PEG ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $73.83 and a 200-day moving average of $68.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. Equity Residential has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $78.83.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by ($0.49). Equity Residential had a net margin of 32.83% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The business had revenue of $734.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $735.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Equity Residential will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 24th will be issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 24th. Equity Residential's payout ratio is 107.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush raised their target price on Equity Residential from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Equity Residential from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $75.97.

About Equity Residential

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.