Utah Retirement Systems Boosts Stock Position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Utah Retirement Systems increased its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,424 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the quarter. Utah Retirement Systems’ holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $4,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 138.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 128,459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,548,000 after buying an additional 74,513 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,434,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $162,162,000 after acquiring an additional 735,580 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. grew its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 62,160 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,140,000 after acquiring an additional 36,323 shares in the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter worth approximately $761,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 617,602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,106,000 after purchasing an additional 33,260 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ELS. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.33.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE ELS opened at $64.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.42. 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 released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.83. The company had revenue of $327.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.34 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.74%.

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.