Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) Given New $72.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) had its target price hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $71.00 to $72.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on ELS. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial upped their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.40.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties stock opened at $69.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $13.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $71.16 and its 200-day moving average is $66.83. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a one year low of $59.82 and a one year high of $76.60.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.28). Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 23.56% and a return on equity of 23.71%. The firm had revenue of $387.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.4775 per share. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Patrick Waite sold 20,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.23, for a total transaction of $1,462,188.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 221,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,575,398.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Patrick Waite sold 20,820 shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.23, for a total value of $1,462,188.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 221,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,575,398.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,808 shares of company stock valued at $6,348,011 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity LifeStyle Properties

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELS. PGGM Investments grew its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 4,586.1% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,843,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $120,067,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,156 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 4,590.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 459,846 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,614,000 after acquiring an additional 450,042 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 569.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 494,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,235,000 after acquiring an additional 421,062 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 46,368.4% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 355,483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,321,000 after acquiring an additional 354,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 7.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 331,945 shares during the period. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.