EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Shares Sold by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC decreased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 318 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EGP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $1,233,785,000 after purchasing an additional 210,207 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 7.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 975,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $175,359,000 after buying an additional 71,614 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 26.1% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 953,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,399,000 after buying an additional 197,427 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $123,848,000 after buying an additional 53,083 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 646,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $118,679,000 after acquiring an additional 146,381 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price target on EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of EastGroup Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $179.00 to $214.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Evercore ISI raised shares of EastGroup Properties from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $192.00 to $204.00 in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.00.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

NYSE EGP opened at $191.82 on Friday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $154.75 and a 1 year high of $192.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $185.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced 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). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 37.16%. The company had revenue of $159.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.70 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.48%.

EastGroup Properties Company Profile

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.