State Street Corp Raises Stock Position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Free Report) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,427,405 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 49,268 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 4.90% of EastGroup Properties worth $456,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC increased its position 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 period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the second quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 90.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 536 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EGP shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of EastGroup Properties from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $191.21.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 2.1 %

EGP traded down $3.72 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $170.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 272,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 301,742. The firm has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.31, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.99. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $155.23 and a 52-week high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.59.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.95 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 115.70%.

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.