EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 57.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,038 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Davis Selected Advisers raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 44,440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,780 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $116,756,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 14,142 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,967,000. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,606,000. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $174.00 to $194.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial upped their price target on EastGroup Properties from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Raymond James raised EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.65.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EGP opened at $181.09 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.95, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $172.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.10 and a 12 month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 120.43%.

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.