EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $190.88.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EGP shares. Raymond James upgraded EastGroup Properties from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $186.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised EastGroup Properties from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $194.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th.

EastGroup Properties Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of EGP traded up $1.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $176.55. 484,210 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 396,085. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. EastGroup Properties has a 1 year low of $155.10 and a 1 year high of $192.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.96, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.00. The business's 50-day moving average price is $165.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.58.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 35.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties's payout ratio is presently 120.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EastGroup Properties

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 65,050 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $10,440,000 after buying an additional 12,371 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at $2,051,000. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 95,887 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $15,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,125 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter worth $1,946,000. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.