Amalgamated Bank Purchases 1,802 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 90,604 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,802 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $6,034,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,070,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $404,319,000 after buying an additional 3,838,809 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,761,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $339,713,000 after acquiring an additional 147,332 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 0.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,649,670 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $331,707,000 after purchasing an additional 39,864 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,833,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $273,014,000 after purchasing an additional 65,191 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,441,191 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $174,155,000 after purchasing an additional 87,609 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

NYSE:ELS opened at $67.24 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.18. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.82 and a 52-week high of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.02. The company has a market cap of $12.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 105.64%.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of lifestyle-oriented properties consisting primarily of manufactured home, and recreational vehicle communities. It operates through the following segments: Property Operations and Home Sales and Rentals Operations.