Savvy Advisors Inc. Acquires New Position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Savvy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 19,515 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,300,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ELS. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,918,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,955,000 after purchasing an additional 3,352,584 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the fourth quarter worth $163,212,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC bought a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,391,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,053,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,668,586,000 after buying an additional 388,888 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ELS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.20.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELS opened at $64.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $12.29 billion, a PE ratio of 32.98, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.72. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $58.86 and a one year high of $76.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $66.59 and a 200 day moving average of $67.85.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. As a group, research analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is 105.64%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Company Profile

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.