EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Upgraded by Evercore ISI to Outperform

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Evercore ISI currently has $204.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price target of $192.00.

Several other analysts also recently commented on EGP. Wedbush increased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded EastGroup Properties from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the company from $179.00 to $214.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. They set a neutral rating and a $167.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $192.00.

EastGroup Properties Stock Down 0.4 %

EGP stock opened at $189.49 on Monday. EastGroup Properties has a twelve month low of $154.75 and a twelve month high of $192.61. 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 has a market cap of $9.12 billion, a PE ratio of 41.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average of $184.97 and a 200 day moving average of $174.53.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 121.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EastGroup Properties

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 24.2% during the first quarter. SYSTM Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 334 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,945 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 0.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,093 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,328,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 4.8% in the first quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 2,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in 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.