Boston Partners Purchases 193,927 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,971,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 193,927 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 1.56% of Equity LifeStyle Properties worth $197,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,070,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $404,319,000 after purchasing an additional 3,838,809 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,761,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $339,713,000 after purchasing an additional 147,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,833,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $273,014,000 after purchasing an additional 65,191 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,553,330 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $170,052,000 after purchasing an additional 112,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 370.6% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,329,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,491 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ELS shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Up 0.2 %

ELS stock opened at $68.38 on Wednesday. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.82 and a 1-year high of $76.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $66.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.02 and a quick ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. Equities analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 105.64%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Company Profile

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of lifestyle-oriented properties consisting primarily of manufactured home, and recreational vehicle communities. It operates through the following segments: Property Operations and Home Sales and Rentals Operations.