EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $192.57.

EGP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $200.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised EastGroup Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE EGP opened at $171.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $182.93 and its 200-day moving average is $175.52. EastGroup Properties has a one year low of $155.23 and a one year high of $192.61. The firm has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.00.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The company had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.95 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 115.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,863,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,233,785,000 after purchasing an additional 210,207 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 975,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $175,359,000 after buying an additional 71,614 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 26.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 953,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,399,000 after buying an additional 197,427 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 728,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $123,848,000 after buying an additional 53,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 479,323 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $81,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About EastGroup Properties

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.