Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.78.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ELS shares. Truist Financial upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $72.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Compass Point boosted their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th.

Institutional Trading of Equity LifeStyle Properties

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 23.7% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 12,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 2,458 shares during the last quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 79,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,296,000 after acquiring an additional 7,092 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,649,670 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $331,707,000 after acquiring an additional 39,864 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 16.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 213,209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,210,000 after purchasing an additional 30,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 21,574 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares during the period. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

Equity LifeStyle Properties stock opened at $66.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.77 and a 200-day moving average of $69.45. The stock has a market cap of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.79. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 EPS 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, analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 3.1 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.95%.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

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.