EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $194.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $174.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.56.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

EGP opened at $160.95 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $169.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.43. EastGroup Properties has a 12-month low of $155.23 and a 12-month high of $192.61. The firm has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). The business had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that EastGroup Properties will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.70%.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EGP. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 47.7% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter worth $66,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in EastGroup Properties by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in EastGroup Properties by 90.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.