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

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $180.40.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EGP. Barclays lowered their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $178.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $183.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $162.00 to $208.00 in a research note on Monday, July 22nd.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

Shares of EGP stock opened at $187.02 on Monday. EastGroup Properties has a 52-week low of $154.75 and a 52-week high of $192.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $171.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.98.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.91). The firm had revenue of $159.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.70 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 37.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $1.27 per share. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 110.20%.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EGP. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in EastGroup Properties during the 4th quarter worth about $103,931,000. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 42.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 756,309 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $138,813,000 after buying an additional 226,169 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,131,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 465.6% during the first 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. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.