EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

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

EGP has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $186.00 price target on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, EastGroup Properties has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.56.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EGP opened at $160.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $169.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.43. EastGroup Properties has a 1-year low of $155.23 and a 1-year high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties will post 8.35 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 115.70%.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

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

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.