MetLife Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,307 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,690 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $4,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EGP. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 337.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 49,097 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,728,000 after purchasing an additional 37,863 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 452,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,610,000 after buying an additional 23,626 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in EastGroup Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $1,871,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in EastGroup Properties by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 72,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,667,000 after acquiring an additional 4,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:EGP opened at $162.75 on Friday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $137.67 and a 12-month high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a PE ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.78.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.11 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $174.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.67 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 7.89%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 122.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EGP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James set a $190.00 price objective on EastGroup Properties and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.81.

About EastGroup Properties

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.