State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $11.20 Million Stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR - Free Report) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,083 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Equity Residential were worth $11,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EQR. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Equity Residential by 2,529.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 447 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Equity Residential in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. 92.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Equity Residential from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Equity Residential from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $77.75 to $81.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com raised Equity Residential from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Equity Residential from $83.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity Residential currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Equity Residential news, EVP Scott Fenster sold 5,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $384,800.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 35,507 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,558,634.42. This trade represents a 13.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Michael L. Manelis sold 9,487 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $683,728.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 26,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,930,106.67. This represents a 26.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,763 shares of company stock worth $1,424,217 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Equity Residential Price Performance

Equity Residential stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.56. 1,115,047 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,619,105. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.78. Equity Residential has a 12 month low of $58.81 and a 12 month high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market cap of $27.17 billion, a PE ratio of 26.31, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.93.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. Equity Residential's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.26%.

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.