EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $192.00.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $200.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wedbush raised their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $214.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EastGroup Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 30.2% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in EastGroup Properties by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,093 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,328,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 2,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $491,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 3.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $693,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:EGP opened at $179.99 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.18. The stock has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.99. EastGroup Properties has a twelve month low of $154.75 and a twelve month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that EastGroup Properties will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. 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 (DPR) is presently 121.48%.

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.