Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Short Interest Update

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, an increase of 23.1% from the August 31st total of 2,940,000 shares. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were sold at an average price of $74.83, for a total value of $2,393,662.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 148,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,109,486.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 31,988 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.83, for a total value of $2,393,662.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 148,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,109,486.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Patrick Waite sold 20,820 shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.23, for a total transaction of $1,462,188.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 221,777 shares in the company, valued at $15,575,398.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 85,808 shares of company stock valued at $6,348,011. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity LifeStyle Properties

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 167.1% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 36.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of ELS traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $71.08. The company had a trading volume of 153,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,189,414. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.67, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.79. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 12-month low of $59.82 and a 12-month high of $76.60.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $380.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $334.53 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 23.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Research analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.4775 per share. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ELS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of 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 research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.67.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Company Profile

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.