EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Short Interest Update

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, an increase of 16.7% from the October 15th total of 1,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 336,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com cut EastGroup Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, EastGroup Properties presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $191.21.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

EastGroup Properties stock traded up $0.99 during trading on Friday, reaching $171.99. The company had a trading volume of 362,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,547. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $180.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. EastGroup Properties has a 52 week low of $155.23 and a 52 week high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The business had revenue of $162.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.95 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from EastGroup Properties's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. EastGroup Properties's dividend payout ratio is 115.70%.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EGP. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new position in EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 30.2% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 345 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the 2nd quarter worth about $66,000. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.