EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Upgraded at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $200.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior target price of $185.00.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $186.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.80.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EGP opened at $171.25 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $174.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.63. EastGroup Properties has a fifty-two week low of $155.23 and a fifty-two week 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.97). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The company had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that EastGroup Properties will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 115.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EastGroup Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $291,081,000 after acquiring an additional 629,827 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 355.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 391,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,158,000 after purchasing an additional 305,555 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,131,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 202.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 188,336 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,036,000 after buying an additional 125,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vision Capital Corp bought a new stake in EastGroup Properties during the third quarter worth about $18,308,000. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

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.