Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC Increases Stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 29.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 648,847 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 147,090 shares during the period. Equity LifeStyle Properties comprises about 2.5% of Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC owned 0.34% of Equity LifeStyle Properties worth $46,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELS. Walleye Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 1st quarter valued at $390,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 28,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after acquiring an additional 3,419 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,429,000. Finally, Aurora Investment Managers LLC. lifted its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 25.7% during the second quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. now owns 38,832 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,529,000 after purchasing an additional 7,940 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELS opened at $70.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $70.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.51. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $59.82 and a 1-year high of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a PE ratio of 36.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.77.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $387.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $315.78 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 24.10%. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.477 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on ELS shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Compass Point boosted their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $70.50 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity LifeStyle Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.50.

Insider Activity at Equity LifeStyle Properties

In related news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 31,988 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.83, for a total transaction of $2,393,662.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 148,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,109,486.29. The trade was a 17.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total transaction of $2,492,160.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 260,936 shares in the company, valued at $19,705,886.72. The trade was a 11.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Company Profile

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 29, 2024, we own or have an interest in 451 properties in 35 states and British Columbia consisting of 172,465 sites.