Short Interest in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Decreases By 5.2%

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,940,000 shares, a decrease of 5.2% from the August 15th total of 3,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ELS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.50 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.67.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

NYSE ELS opened at $73.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.79. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 52-week low of $59.82 and a 52-week high of $76.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $70.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.23). Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.71% and a net margin of 23.56%. The company had revenue of $380.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $334.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.4775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 104.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Equity LifeStyle Properties news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 31,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.83, for a total transaction of $2,393,662.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 148,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,109,486.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total value of $2,492,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 260,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,705,886.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Paul Seavey sold 31,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.83, for a total value of $2,393,662.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 148,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,109,486.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 85,808 shares of company stock worth $6,348,011. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Equity LifeStyle Properties

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ELS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,069,389 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,614,469,000 after purchasing an additional 240,853 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,609,806 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $300,237,000 after buying an additional 331,945 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 5.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,218,638 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $209,630,000 after buying an additional 153,715 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 4.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,842,566 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $183,035,000 after acquiring an additional 113,891 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 7.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $176,250,000 after acquiring an additional 178,258 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 29, 2024, we own or have an interest in 451 properties in 35 states and British Columbia consisting of 172,465 sites.