Short Interest in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Grows By 16.7%

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 16.7% from the October 15th total of 1,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 336,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new stake in EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in EastGroup Properties by 47.7% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 30.2% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in EastGroup Properties in the second quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $186.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $191.21.

EastGroup Properties Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of EGP opened at $171.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.51 billion, a PE ratio of 35.53, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $180.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. EastGroup Properties has a 12 month low of $155.23 and a 12 month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.19% and a return on equity of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $162.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.52 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties will post 8.35 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This is a positive change from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is presently 115.70%.

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.