EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Receives $188.31 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $188.3077.

Several brokerages have weighed in on EGP. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $180.00 to $179.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $170.00 to $178.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $215.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $183.00 to $182.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 29th.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,306,840 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,221,119,000 after buying an additional 108,561 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,667,793 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $449,491,000 after acquiring an additional 65,060 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in EastGroup Properties in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $252,405,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 35.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,318,090 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $232,184,000 after acquiring an additional 342,620 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 234.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,222,064 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $215,267,000 after purchasing an additional 856,971 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of EGP opened at $180.29 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. EastGroup Properties has a 52 week low of $137.67 and a 52 week high of $188.89.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $177.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $175.80 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 34.85% and a return on equity of 7.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that EastGroup Properties will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is an increase from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 133.91%.

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.