EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $191.56.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James raised EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 30th. StockNews.com lowered EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in EastGroup Properties during the second quarter worth $66,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 90.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 3rd quarter valued at $102,000. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

EGP opened at $155.91 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $7.72 billion, a PE ratio of 32.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $167.67 and a 200-day moving average of $177.18. EastGroup Properties has a 52-week low of $155.10 and a 52-week high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is currently 115.70%.

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.