Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.20.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ELS shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th.

Institutional Trading of Equity LifeStyle Properties

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ELS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,053,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,668,586,000 after purchasing an additional 388,888 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 3,838,809 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,761,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $339,713,000 after acquiring an additional 147,332 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,918,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,955,000 after acquiring an additional 3,352,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,887,371 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $258,536,000 after acquiring an additional 53,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE:ELS opened at $65.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.02. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 52 week low of $59.82 and a 52 week high of $76.60.

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

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is currently 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.