EastGroup Properties, Inc. (EGP) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 31st

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 7th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

EastGroup Properties has increased its dividend payment by an average of 15.3% annually over the last three years. EastGroup Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 102.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect EastGroup Properties to earn $9.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.6%.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EGP stock opened at $176.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.59. EastGroup Properties has a one year low of $155.10 and a one year high of $192.61. The firm has a market cap of $9.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 7.89%. On average, analysts expect that EastGroup Properties will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EGP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up previously from $181.00) on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on EastGroup Properties from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Raymond James raised shares of EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $200.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.47.

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.