Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,990,000 shares, a drop of 10.9% from the November 30th total of 4,480,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,270,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Equity LifeStyle Properties

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 23.7% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 12,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $916,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,649,670 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $331,707,000 after buying an additional 39,864 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 213,209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,210,000 after acquiring an additional 30,489 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 95.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 32,578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,311,000 after acquiring an additional 15,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 60.7% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 33,950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,211,000 after acquiring an additional 12,826 shares during the period. 97.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on ELS. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $70.50 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Compass Point lifted their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.50.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties stock traded up $0.54 on Wednesday, reaching $66.60. 1,114,832 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,209,380. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.72 billion, a PE ratio of 34.33, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.49 and a 200 day moving average of $69.28. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $387.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.78 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 24.10%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.477 dividend. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.45%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Company Profile

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 29, 2024, we own or have an interest in 451 properties in 35 states and British Columbia consisting of 172,465 sites.