Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $4.32 Million Holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Free Report) by 40.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,894 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 7,716 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned about 0.05% of EastGroup Properties worth $4,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EGP. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 35.6% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,624 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,545,000 after buying an additional 3,574 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 337.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 49,097 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,728,000 after purchasing an additional 37,863 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 452,429 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $72,610,000 after purchasing an additional 23,626 shares during the period. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,871,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $190.47.

EastGroup Properties Stock Down 0.7 %

EGP traded down $1.24 during trading on Thursday, reaching $176.63. 400,630 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 331,944. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $176.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.10 and a fifty-two week high of $192.61. The stock has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 35.57%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties's payout ratio is 120.43%.

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.