Fmr LLC Sells 2,314,968 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Fmr LLC lowered its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 38.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,645,049 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,314,968 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $260,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 370.6% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,329,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,182,000 after buying an additional 1,834,491 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 4,586.1% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,843,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $120,067,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804,156 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 56.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,232,008 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $159,232,000 after acquiring an additional 805,681 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,866,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 7.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,609,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $300,237,000 after purchasing an additional 331,945 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $70.50 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity LifeStyle Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.50.

Insider Activity at Equity LifeStyle Properties

In other news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 31,988 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.83, for a total transaction of $2,393,662.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 148,463 shares in the company, valued at $11,109,486.29. This trade represents a 17.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total value of $2,492,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 260,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,705,886.72. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Down 1.1 %

ELS stock opened at $71.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.79. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $59.82 and a 12 month high of $76.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.03.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $387.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.78 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 24.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.477 per share. This represents a $1.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.45%.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 29, 2024, we own or have an interest in 451 properties in 35 states and British Columbia consisting of 172,465 sites.