Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, an increase of 23.1% from the August 31st total of 2,940,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,130,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other Equity LifeStyle Properties news, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total value of $2,492,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 260,936 shares in the company, valued at $19,705,886.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 31,988 shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.83, for a total value of $2,393,662.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 148,463 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,109,486.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total value of $2,492,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 260,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,705,886.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 85,808 shares of company stock valued at $6,348,011. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Equity LifeStyle Properties

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 167.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. 97.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.50 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Equity LifeStyle Properties currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.67.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ELS traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $71.34. The stock had a trading volume of 1,256,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,195,284. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 1 year low of $59.82 and a 1 year high of $76.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $13.30 billion, a PE ratio of 38.67, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.24.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.23). Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.71% and a net margin of 23.56%. The business had revenue of $380.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $334.53 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.4775 per share. This represents a $1.91 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is 104.37%.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

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.