Arizona State Retirement System Buys 706 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 706 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $3,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,070,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $404,319,000 after purchasing an additional 3,838,809 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 370.6% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,329,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $166,182,000 after buying an additional 1,834,491 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,626,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $116,068,000 after buying an additional 1,391,846 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,866,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 14,049.2% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,971 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,935,000 after acquiring an additional 708,925 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on ELS. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of ELS stock opened at $68.56 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.04. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $59.82 and a 1 year high of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.02 and a quick ratio of 0.03.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. This is an increase 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 105.64%.

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.