EastGroup Properties' (EGP) "Outperform" Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Wedbush in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $209.00 price target on the real estate investment trust's stock. Wedbush's price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.39% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on EGP. 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 note on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded EastGroup Properties from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $179.00 to $214.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $191.73.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:EGP traded down $2.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $176.53. The stock had a trading volume of 540,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 297,799. EastGroup Properties has a twelve month low of $155.23 and a twelve month high of $192.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.29, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.16% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The business had revenue of $162.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.95 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that EastGroup Properties will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,863,129 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,233,785,000 after purchasing an additional 210,207 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 975,450 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $175,359,000 after buying an additional 71,614 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 953,736 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $171,399,000 after buying an additional 197,427 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 728,092 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $123,848,000 after buying an additional 53,083 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 479,323 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $81,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company's stock.

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.