Barclays Cuts EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Price Target to $193.00

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $198.00 to $193.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, EastGroup Properties presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $191.73.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EastGroup Properties stock opened at $178.36 on Thursday. EastGroup Properties has a 52 week low of $154.75 and a 52 week high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $8.69 billion, a PE ratio of 37.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $184.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.14.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by ($0.91). The business had revenue of $159.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 37.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties will post 8.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. This is a positive change from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 117.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the first quarter worth approximately $42,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the fourth quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 30.2% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

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.