N-Q 1 a_equityincome.htm PUTNAM EQUITY INCOME FUND a_equityincome.htm


UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-Q

QUARTERLY SCHEDULE OF PORTFOLIO HOLDINGS OF REGISTERED
MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANY



Investment Company Act file number: (811-02742)
Exact name of registrant as specified in charter: Putnam Equity Income Fund
Address of principal executive offices: One Post Office Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02109
Name and address of agent for service: Robert T. Burns, Vice President
One Post Office Square
Boston, Massachusetts 02109
Copy to:         Bryan Chegwidden, Esq.
Ropes & Gray LLP
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (617) 292-1000
Date of fiscal year end: November 30, 2017
Date of reporting period: August 31, 2017



Item 1. Schedule of Investments:













Putnam Equity Income Fund

The fund's portfolio
8/31/17 (Unaudited)
COMMON STOCKS (97.4%)(a)
Shares Value
Aerospace and defense (5.0%)
Airbus SE (France) 500,842 $42,099,638
Northrop Grumman Corp. 1,409,590 383,704,494
Raytheon Co. 846,200 154,016,862
579,820,994
Airlines (0.8%)
Southwest Airlines Co. 1,866,400 97,314,096
97,314,096
Auto components (1.0%)
Delphi Automotive PLC (United Kingdom) 1,174,800 113,250,720
113,250,720
Automobiles (0.5%)
General Motors Co. 1,440,800 52,646,832
52,646,832
Banks (12.2%)
Bank of America Corp. 14,066,094 336,038,986
Citigroup, Inc. 5,306,603 361,008,202
JPMorgan Chase & Co. 4,477,846 406,991,423
KeyCorp 4,052,900 69,750,409
Regions Financial Corp. 7,971,300 112,475,043
Wells Fargo & Co. 2,562,040 130,843,383
1,417,107,446
Beverages (2.5%)
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. 1,110,800 101,138,340
Molson Coors Brewing Co. Class B 603,100 54,128,225
PepsiCo, Inc. 1,132,300 131,041,079
286,307,644
Biotechnology (2.6%)
Amgen, Inc. 810,300 144,047,031
Gilead Sciences, Inc. 1,918,500 160,597,635
304,644,666
Building products (1.2%)
Johnson Controls International PLC 3,458,941 136,939,474
136,939,474
Capital markets (4.6%)
Charles Schwab Corp. (The) 4,043,000 161,315,700
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) 465,293 104,104,656
Invesco, Ltd. 1,376,000 45,105,280
KKR & Co. LP 4,799,696 91,242,221
State Street Corp. 1,403,380 129,798,616
531,566,473
Chemicals (2.9%)
Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. 545,300 79,270,261
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. 1,911,400 55,411,486
Dow Chemical Co. (The) 1,815,489 121,002,342
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. 921,342 77,328,234
333,012,323
Commercial services and supplies (—%)
New Bigfoot Other Assets GmbH (acquired 8/2/13, cost $52) (Private) (Germany)(F)(RES)(NON) 39 35
New Middle East Other Assets GmbH (acquired 8/2/13, cost $21) (Private) (Germany)(F)(RES)(NON) 16 14
49
Communications equipment (0.9%)
Cisco Systems, Inc. 3,170,907 102,134,914
102,134,914
Consumer finance (0.7%)
Capital One Financial Corp. 933,500 74,315,935
Oportun Financial Corp. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $2,781,056) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 975,809 2,355,905
76,671,840
Containers and packaging (1.3%)
Ball Corp. 1,922,200 76,868,778
Sealed Air Corp. 1,790,000 79,440,200
156,308,978
Diversified telecommunication services (2.2%)
AT&T, Inc. 5,117,400 191,697,804
Verizon Communications, Inc. 1,302,570 62,484,283
254,182,087
Electric utilities (3.3%)
American Electric Power Co., Inc. 1,029,200 75,779,996
Edison International 1,039,400 83,339,092
Exelon Corp. 2,660,700 100,760,709
NextEra Energy, Inc. 356,100 53,596,611
PG&E Corp. 940,800 66,213,504
379,689,912
Energy equipment and services (0.7%)
Halliburton Co. 1,981,600 77,222,952
77,222,952
Equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) (2.6%)
American Tower Corp. 601,100 88,992,855
Boston Properties, Inc. 702,900 84,769,740
Federal Realty Investment Trust 466,700 59,238,231
Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. 1,751,546 68,643,088
301,643,914
Food and staples retail (1.1%)
Kroger Co. (The) 2,880,300 62,992,161
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. 824,600 67,204,900
130,197,061
Food products (0.8%)
Kraft Heinz Co. (The) 1,198,300 96,762,725
96,762,725
Health-care equipment and supplies (2.3%)
Becton Dickinson and Co. 892,795 178,059,035
Danaher Corp. 1,008,000 84,087,360
262,146,395
Health-care providers and services (1.4%)
Cigna Corp. 907,100 165,146,626
165,146,626
Hotels, restaurants, and leisure (0.7%)
Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc. 1,343,099 86,401,559
86,401,559
Household durables (0.5%)
FabFurnish GmbH (acquisition dates ranging from 8/2/13 to 8/31/16, cost $52) (Private) (Germany)(F)(RES)(NON) 78 70
PulteGroup, Inc. 2,106,300 54,384,666
54,384,736
Household products (0.2%)
Colgate-Palmolive Co. 332,100 23,791,644
23,791,644
Independent power and renewable electricity producers (1.5%)
Calpine Corp.(NON) 5,093,582 74,875,655
NRG Energy, Inc. 3,897,600 97,089,216
171,964,871
Industrial conglomerates (1.3%)
General Electric Co. 2,854,220 70,071,101
Honeywell International, Inc. 563,600 77,928,972
148,000,073
Insurance (4.0%)
American International Group, Inc. 2,327,478 140,765,869
Assured Guaranty, Ltd. 3,103,580 132,026,293
Chubb, Ltd. 666,700 94,284,714
Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (The) 1,885,900 101,970,613
469,047,489
Internet and direct marketing retail (—%)
Global Fashion Holding SA (acquired 8/2/13, cost $2,567,154) (Private) (Luxembourg)(F)(RES)(NON) 60,600 653,157
653,157
Internet software and services (1.5%)
Alphabet, Inc. Class C(NON) 186,496 175,181,288
175,181,288
IT Services (2.0%)
DXC Technology Co. 1,535,500 130,517,500
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. 1,051,300 97,686,796
228,204,296
Life sciences tools and services (1.0%)
Agilent Technologies, Inc. 1,877,800 121,531,216
121,531,216
Machinery (0.4%)
Fortive Corp. 696,550 45,254,854
45,254,854
Media (3.7%)
Charter Communications, Inc. Class A(NON) 278,059 110,817,634
Comcast Corp. Class A 6,862,200 278,673,942
DISH Network Corp. Class A(NON) 599,600 34,351,084
423,842,660
Metals and mining (1.5%)
Alcoa Corp.(NON) 4,087,900 179,377,052
179,377,052
Mortgage real estate investment trusts (REITs) (0.4%)
MFA Financial, Inc. 5,132,105 45,059,882
45,059,882
Oil, gas, and consumable fuels (8.1%)
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. 1,758,382 71,970,575
Cheniere Energy, Inc.(NON) 1,168,500 50,000,115
ConocoPhillips 3,405,400 148,679,764
EOG Resources, Inc. 1,050,800 89,307,492
Exxon Mobil Corp. 2,437,092 186,023,232
Marathon Oil Corp. 10,823,280 120,354,874
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. 225,700 29,262,005
Suncor Energy, Inc. (Canada) 1,962,898 61,508,067
Total SA (France) 1,472,068 76,134,076
Valero Energy Corp. 1,630,800 111,057,480
944,297,680
Personal products (1.2%)
Coty, Inc. Class A 2,626,521 43,547,718
Edgewell Personal Care Co.(NON)(S) 1,287,368 97,762,726
141,310,444
Pharmaceuticals (6.5%)
AstraZeneca PLC ADR (United Kingdom)(S) 3,621,800 108,038,294
Eli Lilly & Co. 1,865,800 151,670,882
Johnson & Johnson 1,871,070 247,673,536
Merck & Co., Inc. 2,389,091 152,567,351
Pfizer, Inc. 2,751,320 93,324,774
753,274,837
Road and rail (0.9%)
Union Pacific Corp. 1,029,800 108,437,940
108,437,940
Semiconductors and semiconductor equipment (3.4%)
Applied Materials, Inc. 1,474,000 66,506,880
Broadcom, Ltd. 231,500 58,354,205
Intel Corp. 2,032,200 71,269,254
NXP Semiconductor NV(NON) 718,400 81,150,464
Texas Instruments, Inc. 1,445,100 119,683,182
396,963,985
Software (3.4%)
Microsoft Corp. 5,267,200 393,828,544
393,828,544
Specialty retail (1.4%)
Home Depot, Inc. (The) 500,300 74,979,961
O'Reilly Automotive, Inc.(NON) 471,800 92,534,134
167,514,095
Technology hardware, storage, and peripherals (1.9%)
Apple, Inc. 1,330,700 218,234,800
218,234,800
Thrifts and mortgage finance (0.8%)
Radian Group, Inc. 5,334,040 93,345,700
93,345,700
Wireless telecommunication services (0.5%)
Vodafone Group PLC ADR (United Kingdom)(S) 2,152,332 62,482,197
62,482,197
Total common stocks (cost $8,641,429,797) $11,307,103,120

CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED STOCKS (1.1%)(a)
Shares Value
American Tower Corp. $5.50 cv. pfd. (R ) 125,877 $16,411,214
Arconic, Inc. $2.688 cv. pfd. 812,125 33,004,760
Global Fashion Group SA zero % cv. pfd. (acquired 7/11/16, cost $309,232) (Luxembourg) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 40,826 448,837
Mandatory Exchangeable Trust 144A $5.75 cv. pfd. 304,344 59,401,862
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. A-1, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $7,592) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 2,664 6,432
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. B-1, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $145,237) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 46,107 123,034
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. C-1, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $341,111) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 67,016 288,965
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. D-1, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $494,779) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 97,206 419,140
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. E-1, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $277,459) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 50,539 235,043
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. F, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $837,565) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 109,058 709,524
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. F-1, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $2,349,227) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 824,290 1,990,092
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. G, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 6/23/15, cost $2,970,584) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 1,042,310 2,516,459
Oportun Financial Corp. Ser. H, 8.00% cv. pfd. (acquired 2/6/15, cost $9,110,862) (Private)(F)(RES)(NON) 3,199,825 7,717,978
Total convertible preferred stocks (cost $100,471,998) $123,273,340

SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS (2.4%)(a)
Principal amount/shares Value
U.S. Treasury Bills 1.099%, 2/8/18(SEGSF) $4,946,000 $4,923,084
U.S. Treasury Bills 1.081%, 2/15/18(SEGSF) 4,941,000 4,916,905
U.S. Treasury Bills 1.048%, 12/7/17(SEGSF) 1,451,000 1,447,184
U.S. Treasury Bills 1.012%, 1/18/18(SEGSF) 60,000 59,766
Putnam Short Term Investment Fund 1.15%(AFF) Shares 170,614,493 170,614,493
Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC 1.28%(AFF) Shares 101,326,800 101,326,800
Total short-term investments (cost $283,287,018) $283,288,232

TOTAL INVESTMENTS
Total investments (cost $9,025,188,813) $11,713,664,692













FORWARD CURRENCY CONTRACTS at 8/31/17 (aggregate face value $421,193,859) (Unaudited)


Unrealized
Contract Delivery Aggregate appreciation/
Counterparty Currency type* date Value face value (depreciation)
Bank of America N.A.
Euro Sell 9/20/17 $35,111,526 $33,156,208 $(1,955,318)
Barclays Bank PLC
British Pound Sell 9/20/17 130,230,486 129,403,573 (826,913)
Citibank, N.A.
Canadian Dollar Sell 10/18/17 30,299,918 29,193,182 (1,106,736)
Goldman Sachs International
British Pound Sell 9/20/17 130,230,746 129,380,339 (850,407)
Canadian Dollar Sell 10/18/17 30,299,998 29,198,105 (1,101,893)
Euro Sell 9/20/17 39,937,976 37,715,109 (2,222,867)
State Street Bank and Trust Co.
Euro Sell 9/20/17 35,111,407 33,147,343 (1,964,064)
Unrealized appreciation —
Unrealized depreciation (10,028,198)
Total $(10,028,198)

* The exchange currency for all contracts listed is the United States Dollar.












Key to holding's abbreviations
ADR American Depository Receipts: represents ownership of foreign securities on deposit with a custodian bank
Notes to the fund's portfolio
Unless noted otherwise, the notes to the fund's portfolio are for the close of the fund's reporting period, which ran from December 1, 2016 through August 31, 2017 (the reporting period). Within the following notes to the portfolio, references to "ASC 820" represent Accounting Standards Codification 820 Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, references to "Putnam Management" represent Putnam Investment Management, LLC, the fund's manager, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Putnam Investments, LLC and references to "OTC", if any, represent over-the-counter.
(a) Percentages indicated are based on net assets of $11,609,969,823.
(NON) This security is non-income-producing.
(RES) This security is restricted with regard to public resale. The total fair value of this security and any other restricted securities (excluding 144A securities), if any, held at the close of the reporting period was $17,464,685, or 0.2% of net assets.
(AFF) Affiliated company. For investments in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC and Putnam Short Term Investment Fund, the rate quoted in the security description is the annualized 7-day yield of the fund at the close of the reporting period. Transactions during the period with any company which is under common ownership or control were as follows:
Name of affiliate Fair value as of 11/30/16 Purchase cost Sale proceeds Investment income Shares outstanding and fair value as of 8/31/2017
Short-term investments
Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC*# $54,910,525 $884,232,995 $837,816,720 $818,206 $101,326,800
Putnam Short Term Investment Fund** 261,811,109 603,956,837 695,153,453 1,166,227 170,614,493
Total Short-term investments $316,721,634 $1,488,189,832 $1,532,970,173 $1,984,433 $271,941,293
* No management fees are charged to Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC. There were no realized or unrealized gains or losses during the period.
# The fund may lend securities, through its agent, to qualified borrowers in order to earn additional income. The loans are collateralized by cash in an amount at least equal to the fair value of the securities loaned. The fair value of securities loaned is determined daily and any additional required collateral is allocated to the fund on the next business day. The remaining maturities of the securities lending transactions are considered overnight and continuous. The risk of borrower default will be borne by the fund's agent; the fund will bear the risk of loss with respect to the investment of the cash collateral. The fund received cash collateral of $101,326,800, which is invested in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC, a limited liability company managed by an affiliate of Putnam Management. Investments in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC are valued at its closing net asset value each business day. There are no management fees charged to Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC. The rate quoted in the security description is the annualized 7-day yield at the close of the reporting period. At the close of the reporting period, the value of securities loaned amounted to $100,718,891.
** Management fees charged to Putnam Short Term Investment Fund have been waived by Putnam Management. There were no realized or unrealized gains or losses during the period.

(SEGSF) This security, in part or in entirety, was pledged and segregated with the custodian for collateral on certain derivative contracts at the close of the reporting period. Collateral at period end totaled $9,513,461.
(F) This security is valued by Putnam Management at fair value following procedures approved by the Trustees.
(R) Real Estate Investment Trust.
(S) This security is on loan, in part or in entirety, at the close of the reporting period.
At the close of the reporting period, the fund maintained liquid assets totaling $8,725,755 to cover certain derivative contracts.
Unless otherwise noted, the rates quoted in Short-term investments security descriptions represent the weighted average yield to maturity.
144A after the name of an issuer represents securities exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These securities may be resold in transactions exempt from registration, normally to qualified institutional buyers.
Security valuation: Portfolio securities and other investments are valued using policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The Trustees have formed a Pricing Committee to oversee the implementation of these procedures and have delegated responsibility for valuing the fund's assets in accordance with these procedures to Putnam Management. Putnam Management has established an internal Valuation Committee that is responsible for making fair value determinations, evaluating the effectiveness of the pricing policies of the fund and reporting to the Pricing Committee.
Investments for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the last reported sales price on their principal exchange, or official closing price for certain markets, and are classified as Level 1 securities under ASC 820. If no sales are reported, as in the case of some securities that are traded OTC, a security is valued at its last reported bid price and is generally categorized as a Level 2 security.
Investments in open-end investment companies (excluding exchange-traded funds), if any, which can be classified as Level 1 or Level 2 securities, are valued based on their net asset value. The net asset value of such investment companies equals the total value of their assets less their liabilities and divided by the number of their outstanding shares.
Market quotations are not considered to be readily available for certain debt obligations (including short-term investments with remaining maturities of 60 days or less) and other investments; such investments are valued on the basis of valuations furnished by an independent pricing service approved by the Trustees or dealers selected by Putnam Management. Such services or dealers determine valuations for normal institutional-size trading units of such securities using methods based on market transactions for comparable securities and various relationships, generally recognized by institutional traders, between securities (which consider such factors as security prices, yields, maturities and ratings). These securities will generally be categorized as Level 2.
Many securities markets and exchanges outside the U.S. close prior to the scheduled close of the New York Stock Exchange and therefore the closing prices for securities in such markets or on such exchanges may not fully reflect events that occur after such close but before the scheduled close of the New York Stock Exchange. Accordingly, on certain days, the fund will fair value certain foreign equity securities taking into account multiple factors including movements in the U.S. securities markets, currency valuations and comparisons to the valuation of American Depository Receipts, exchange-traded funds and futures contracts. The foreign equity securities, which would generally be classified as Level 1 securities, will be transferred to Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy when they are valued at fair value. The number of days on which fair value prices will be used will depend on market activity and it is possible that fair value prices will be used by the fund to a significant extent. Securities quoted in foreign currencies, if any, are translated into U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate.
To the extent a pricing service or dealer is unable to value a security or provides a valuation that Putnam Management does not believe accurately reflects the security's fair value, the security will be valued at fair value by Putnam Management in accordance with policies and procedures approved by the Trustees. Certain investments, including certain restricted and illiquid securities and derivatives, are also valued at fair value following procedures approved by the Trustees. These valuations consider such factors as significant market or specific security events such as interest rate or credit quality changes, various relationships with other securities, discount rates, U.S. Treasury, U.S. swap and credit yields, index levels, convexity exposures, recovery rates, sales and other multiples and resale restrictions. These securities are classified as Level 2 or as Level 3 depending on the priority of the significant inputs.
To assess the continuing appropriateness of fair valuations, the Valuation Committee reviews and affirms the reasonableness of such valuations on a regular basis after considering all relevant information that is reasonably available. Such valuations and procedures are reviewed periodically by the Trustees. The fair value of securities is generally determined as the amount that the fund could reasonably expect to realize from an orderly disposition of such securities over a reasonable period of time. By its nature, a fair value price is a good faith estimate of the value of a security in a current sale and does not reflect an actual market price, which may be different by a material amount.
Forward currency contracts: The fund buys and sells forward currency contracts, which are agreements between two parties to buy and sell currencies at a set price on a future date. These contracts were used to hedge foreign exchange risk.
The U.S. dollar value of forward currency contracts is determined using current forward currency exchange rates supplied by a quotation service. The fair value of the contract will fluctuate with changes in currency exchange rates. The contract is marked to market daily and the change in fair value is recorded as an unrealized gain or loss. The fund records a realized gain or loss equal to the difference between the value of the contract at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was closed when the contract matures or by delivery of the currency. The fund could be exposed to risk if the value of the currency changes unfavorably, if the counterparties to the contracts are unable to meet the terms of their contracts or if the fund is unable to enter into a closing position.
For the fund's average contract amount on forward currency contracts, see the appropriate table at the end of these footnotes.
Master agreements: The fund is a party to ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.) Master Agreements (Master Agreements) with certain counterparties that govern OTC derivative and foreign exchange contracts entered into from time to time. The Master Agreements may contain provisions regarding, among other things, the parties' general obligations, representations, agreements, collateral requirements, events of default and early termination. With respect to certain counterparties, in accordance with the terms of the Master Agreements, collateral posted to the fund is held in a segregated account by the fund's custodian and, with respect to those amounts which can be sold or repledged, is presented in the fund's portfolio.
Collateral pledged by the fund is segregated by the fund's custodian and identified in the fund's portfolio. Collateral can be in the form of cash or debt securities issued by the U.S. Government or related agencies or other securities as agreed to by the fund and the applicable counterparty. Collateral requirements are determined based on the fund's net position with each counterparty.
Termination events applicable to the fund may occur upon a decline in the fund's net assets below a specified threshold over a certain period of time. Termination events applicable to counterparties may occur upon a decline in the counterparty's long-term and short-term credit ratings below a specified level. In each case, upon occurrence, the other party may elect to terminate early and cause settlement of all derivative and foreign exchange contracts outstanding, including the payment of any losses and costs resulting from such early termination, as reasonably determined by the terminating party. Any decision by one or more of the fund's counterparties to elect early termination could impact the fund's future derivative activity.
At the close of the reporting period, the fund had a net liability position of $10,028,198 on open derivative contracts subject to the Master Agreements. Collateral posted by the fund at period end for these agreements totaled $9,513,461 and may include amounts related to unsettled agreements.












ASC 820 establishes a three-level hierarchy for disclosure of fair value measurements. The valuation hierarchy is based upon the transparency of inputs to the valuation of the fund's investments. The three levels are defined as follows:
Level 1: Valuations based on quoted prices for identical securities in active markets.
Level 2: Valuations based on quoted prices in markets that are not active or for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.
Level 3: Valuations based on inputs that are unobservable and significant to the fair value measurement.
The following is a summary of the inputs used to value the fund's net assets as of the close of the reporting period:

 Valuation inputs
Investments in securities: Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Common stocks*:
    Consumer discretionary $898,040,532 $— $653,227
    Consumer staples 678,369,518 — —
    Energy 1,021,520,632 — —
    Financials 2,630,442,925 — 2,355,905
    Health care 1,606,743,740 — —
    Industrials 1,115,767,431 — 49
    Information technology 1,514,547,827 — —
    Materials 668,698,353 — —
    Real estate 301,643,914 — —
    Telecommunication services 316,664,284 — —
    Utilities 551,654,783 — —
Total common stocks 11,304,093,939 — 3,009,181
Convertible preferred stocks — 108,817,836 14,455,504
Short-term investments 170,614,493 112,673,739 —
Totals by level $11,474,708,432 $221,491,575 $17,464,685



Valuation inputs
Other financial instruments: Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Forward currency contracts $— $(10,028,198) $—
Totals by level $— $(10,028,198) $—

* Common stock classifications are presented at the sector level, which may differ from the fund's portfolio presentation.
During the reporting period, transfers within the fair value hierarchy, if any (other than certain transfers involving non-U.S. equity securities as described in the Security valuation note above), did not represent, in the aggregate, more than 1% of the fund's net assets measured as of the end of the period. Transfers are accounted for using the end of period pricing valuation method.
At the start and close of the reporting period, Level 3 investments in securities represented less than 1% of the fund's net assets and were not considered a significant portion of the fund's portfolio.

Fair Value of Derivative Instruments as of the close of the reporting period
Asset derivatives Liability derivatives
Derivatives not accounted for as hedging instruments under ASC 815 Fair value Fair value
Foreign exchange contracts $— $10,028,198
Total $— $10,028,198


The volume of activity for the reporting period for any derivative type that was held at the close of the period is listed below and was based on an average of the holdings of that derivative at the end of each fiscal quarter in the reporting period:
Forward currency contracts (contract amount)$360,100,000

For additional information regarding the fund please see the fund's most recent annual or semiannual shareholder report filed on the Securities and Exchange Commission's Web site, www.sec.gov, or visit Putnam's Individual Investor Web site at www.putnaminvestments.com



Item 2. Controls and Procedures:
(a) The registrant's principal executive officer and principal financial officer have concluded, based on their evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures as of a date within 90 days of the filing date of this report, that the design and operation of such procedures are generally effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by the registrant in this report is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Commission's rules and forms.
(b) Changes in internal control over financial reporting: Not applicable

Item 3. Exhibits:
Separate certifications for the principal executive officer and principal financial officer of the registrant as required by Rule 30a-2(a) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, are filed herewith.

SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Putnam Equity Income Fund
By (Signature and Title):
/s/ Janet C. Smith
Janet C. Smith
Principal Accounting Officer
Date: October 27, 2017

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

By (Signature and Title):
/s/ Jonathan S. Horwitz
Jonathan S. Horwitz
Principal Executive Officer
Date: October 27, 2017

By (Signature and Title):
/s/ Janet C. Smith
Janet C. Smith
Principal Financial Officer
Date: October 27, 2017