Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lessened its stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Free Report) by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 154,450 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 50,550 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.32% of EastGroup Properties worth $29,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EGP. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 11,727 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,108,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.2% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 26,998 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,210 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,274,000 after buying an additional 2,356 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 57,443 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $10,327,000 after buying an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 180.4% in the first quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 8,148 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 5,242 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EGP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised EastGroup Properties from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $179.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $209.00 price target on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Friday, October 25th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered EastGroup Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $192.57.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

EGP stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $171.20. The company had a trading volume of 284,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 298,825. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $155.23 and a 1-year high of $192.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $182.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a PE ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.00.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last released 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). The company had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. On average, analysts expect that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

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