KBC Group NV Grows Stake in Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE:DEA)

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE:DEA) by 62.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,014 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Easterly Government Properties were worth $71,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DEA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Easterly Government Properties by 1.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,009,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $126,716,000 after buying an additional 175,750 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Easterly Government Properties by 4.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,932,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,246,000 after acquiring an additional 79,400 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Easterly Government Properties by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,361,719 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,844,000 after purchasing an additional 9,738 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Easterly Government Properties by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,144,075 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,152,000 after purchasing an additional 102,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its position in Easterly Government Properties by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,067,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,201,000 after purchasing an additional 107,753 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DEA has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Easterly Government Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Easterly Government Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Easterly Government Properties from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th.

Easterly Government Properties Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:DEA opened at $12.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 4.01 and a quick ratio of 4.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $13.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.00. Easterly Government Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.94 and a 1-year high of $14.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.14 and a beta of 0.72.

Easterly Government Properties (NYSE:DEA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $74.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.98 million. Easterly Government Properties had a return on equity of 1.34% and a net margin of 6.25%. Easterly Government Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Easterly Government Properties, Inc. will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Easterly Government Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Easterly Government Properties’s payout ratio is presently 588.89%.

Easterly Government Properties Company Profile

Easterly Government Properties, Inc (NYSE: DEA) is based in Washington, DC, and focuses primarily on the acquisition, development and management of Class A commercial properties that are leased to the U.S. Government. Easterly’s experienced management team brings specialized insight into the strategy and needs of mission-critical U.S.