Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $273,000 Investment in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,701 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EGP. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 40.2% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 26,894 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,316,000 after purchasing an additional 7,716 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,065 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,899,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in EastGroup Properties by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,056,232 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $169,533,000 after acquiring an additional 268,359 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 14,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508 shares in the last quarter. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up previously from $181.00) on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.47.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of EGP opened at $176.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.19 billion, a PE ratio of 37.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $176.62 and its 200 day moving average is $174.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.10 and a fifty-two week high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 7.89%. Sell-side analysts expect that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 120.43%.

About EastGroup Properties

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.