EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 63.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EGP. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 95,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,242,000 after acquiring an additional 5,342 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. purchased a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,289,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 30.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 18,316 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,293,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in EastGroup Properties by 48.9% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 11,389 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,047,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 30.1% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 280,759 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $47,757,000 after purchasing an additional 64,984 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EGP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of EastGroup Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $179.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $175.00 to $200.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. KeyCorp upped their price target on EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.00.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

NYSE EGP opened at $187.62 on Friday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $154.75 and a one year high of $192.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $185.77 and a 200 day moving average of $175.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.70, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.99.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.91). EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.16% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The company had revenue of $159.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 110.20%.

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.