First American Trust FSB Invests $282,000 in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

First American Trust FSB bought a new stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,758 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 503.3% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $102,000. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 30th. Raymond James upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $185.00 price objective (up from $181.00) on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.47.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

NYSE EGP opened at $175.28 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.10 and a 1 year high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 35.57%. As a group, research analysts expect that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 120.43%.

EastGroup Properties 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.