Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Increases Stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Free Report) by 50.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 517,770 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 174,630 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned 1.05% of EastGroup Properties worth $83,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EGP. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the second quarter worth $783,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 90.7% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 536 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 26.3% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,770 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,598 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 2,555 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $477,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EGP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $186.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $190.88.

EastGroup Properties Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:EGP traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $178.83. 794,969 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 432,438. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $166.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 38.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.00. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $155.10 and a one year high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 8.27%. Equities analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties's dividend payout ratio is presently 120.43%.

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.