Analysts Set EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) PT at $191.80

Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $191.80.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EGP shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Mizuho upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $186.00 price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the second quarter valued at about $66,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 90.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $102,000. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE EGP opened at $161.44 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. EastGroup Properties has a 52 week low of $155.23 and a 52 week high of $192.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $173.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.71.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.97). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The firm had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.95 earnings per share. EastGroup Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that EastGroup Properties will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.70%.

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.