EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Short Interest Down 22.6% in December

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,370,000 shares, a decline of 22.6% from the December 15th total of 1,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 333,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on EGP. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $174.00 to $194.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.88.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EGP. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 47.7% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 503.3% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 90.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

EastGroup Properties Stock Down 0.4 %

EastGroup Properties stock opened at $161.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.38, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. EastGroup Properties has a fifty-two week low of $155.10 and a fifty-two week high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). The firm had revenue of $162.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.19% and a return on equity of 8.56%. EastGroup Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.70%.

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.