Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Raises Dividend to $0.52 Per Share

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of 0.515 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Equity LifeStyle Properties has increased its dividend by an average of 9.6% annually over the last three years. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 89.7% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Analysts expect Equity LifeStyle Properties to earn $3.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.91 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.2%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

NYSE:ELS opened at $66.38 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average of $67.09 and a 200-day moving average of $69.44. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 52 week low of $59.82 and a 52 week high of $76.60. The company has a market capitalization of $12.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.79.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on ELS shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Equity LifeStyle Properties presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.90.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Company Profile

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.