Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. $EGP

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,891 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 564 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $3,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1,035.7% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the 2nd quarter valued at about $111,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 51.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 831 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 18,900.0% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC purchased a new position in EastGroup Properties during the first quarter worth about $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EGP shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on EastGroup Properties from $170.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $187.00 to $196.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $183.00 price objective on EastGroup Properties and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.80.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EGP opened at $176.80 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.01 and a quick ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $9.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $172.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.20. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $137.67 and a 1-year high of $188.89.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by ($0.01). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 7.28% and a net margin of 35.58%.The company had revenue of $182.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. EastGroup Properties has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.940-8.980 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 2.300-2.340 EPS. Analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $1.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is currently 130.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at EastGroup Properties

In other news, EVP Richard Reid Dunbar sold 2,000 shares of EastGroup Properties stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 20,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,610,250. The trade was a 8.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Profile

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.