EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Increases Dividend to $1.40 Per Share

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27.

EastGroup Properties has increased its dividend by an average of 27.7% per year over the last three years. EastGroup Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 102.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect EastGroup Properties to earn $8.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.08 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.6%.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

EGP stock opened at $186.95 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $179.73 and a 200-day moving average of $174.00. The firm has a market cap of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.98. EastGroup Properties has a 12-month low of $154.75 and a 12-month high of $192.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.91). The business had revenue of $159.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.16% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that EastGroup Properties will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $185.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $195.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wedbush upped their price target on EastGroup Properties from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $186.79.

EastGroup Properties Company Profile

EastGroup Properties, Inc (NYSE: EGP), a member of the S&P Mid-Cap 400 and Russell 1000 Indexes, is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina.