EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Monday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on EGP. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised EastGroup Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $179.00 to $214.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. KeyCorp increased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Mizuho raised EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $175.00 to $200.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.57.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 1.7 %

EGP stock opened at $171.16 on Monday. EastGroup Properties has a 1-year low of $155.23 and a 1-year high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $183.56 and its 200-day moving average is $175.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.99.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.97). The company had revenue of $162.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.16% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is presently 115.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EGP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,863,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,233,785,000 after buying an additional 210,207 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,131,000. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 953,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $171,399,000 after acquiring an additional 197,427 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 465.6% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 200,558 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,054,000 after acquiring an additional 165,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 202.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 188,336 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,036,000 after purchasing an additional 125,991 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

EastGroup Properties Company Profile

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.