Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Purchases 11,500 Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 8.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 150,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 11,500 shares during the quarter. EastGroup Properties comprises approximately 1.0% of Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC owned 0.31% of EastGroup Properties worth $25,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EGP. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new position in EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in EastGroup Properties during the 1st quarter worth $42,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the fourth quarter worth $55,000. Finally, SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 24.2% in the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 334 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EGP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. KeyCorp increased 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. Truist Financial increased their price target on EastGroup Properties from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $167.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on EastGroup Properties from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.00.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE EGP opened at $187.62 on Friday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $154.75 and a 12 month high of $192.61. The company has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.03.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 EPS 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 prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. This is an increase from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.