B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Buys Shares of 18,531 EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 18,531 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $3,462,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EGP. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 0.8% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 67,602 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $12,632,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the 3rd quarter worth about $399,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 3,258.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 7,053 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,318,000 after buying an additional 6,843 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 153,736 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $28,721,000 after acquiring an additional 2,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 343,140 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $64,105,000 after acquiring an additional 62,381 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on EGP shares. Mizuho raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, EastGroup Properties presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $191.21.

EastGroup Properties Stock Down 1.8 %

EGP stock opened at $171.01 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.83. The company has a market capitalization of $8.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.33, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.00. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.23 and a twelve month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). The company had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. EastGroup Properties's revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.95 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. EastGroup Properties's dividend payout ratio is presently 115.70%.

EastGroup Properties Company 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.