Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Raises Stock Holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Free Report) by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 102,548 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 15,076 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.21% of EastGroup Properties worth $19,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $291,081,000 after purchasing an additional 629,827 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 355.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 391,594 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $73,158,000 after buying an additional 305,555 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,131,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in EastGroup Properties by 202.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 188,336 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $32,036,000 after buying an additional 125,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vision Capital Corp bought a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the third quarter worth $18,308,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EGP. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $209.00 price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $186.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $191.80.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EGP stock traded up $0.41 on Wednesday, hitting $170.66. 342,470 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 302,765. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $155.23 and a 52 week high of $192.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.61. The firm has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.99.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.97). The business had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.19% and a return on equity of 8.56%. EastGroup Properties's revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. EastGroup Properties's payout ratio is 115.70%.

EastGroup Properties 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.