Raymond James Upgrades EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) to Strong-Buy

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) was upgraded by stock analysts at Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $200.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $185.00. Raymond James’ target price suggests a potential upside of 17.47% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $186.00 price target on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 note on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $186.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.80.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

EGP opened at $170.25 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $175.04 and its 200-day moving average is $177.66. The stock has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.99. EastGroup Properties has a twelve month low of $155.23 and a twelve month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that EastGroup Properties will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EastGroup Properties

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $291,081,000 after acquiring an additional 629,827 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in EastGroup Properties by 355.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 391,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,158,000 after purchasing an additional 305,555 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in EastGroup Properties in the 2nd quarter worth about $35,131,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 202.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 188,336 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,036,000 after purchasing an additional 125,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vision Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the 3rd quarter valued at about $18,308,000. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.