EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Lifted to Outperform at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $200.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $175.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on EGP. Truist Financial lifted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. They issued a neutral rating and a $167.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $179.00 to $214.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $208.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $191.20.

EastGroup Properties Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:EGP opened at $184.94 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.12, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $182.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.18. EastGroup Properties has a 12-month low of $154.75 and a 12-month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.91). The company had revenue of $159.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.70 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.16% and a return on equity of 8.69%. EastGroup Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 121.48%.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,863,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,233,785,000 after acquiring an additional 210,207 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 975,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $175,359,000 after purchasing an additional 71,614 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 26.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 953,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $171,399,000 after buying an additional 197,427 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 728,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $123,848,000 after buying an additional 53,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 646,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $118,679,000 after buying an additional 146,381 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

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.