AGF Management Ltd. Sells 7,486 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

AGF Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,352 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 7,486 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $2,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 23.7% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 12,835 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $916,000 after acquiring an additional 2,458 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 4th quarter worth about $380,000. Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 79,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,296,000 after purchasing an additional 7,092 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 16.7% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 213,209 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,210,000 after buying an additional 30,489 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 21,574 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 1,301 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 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. Evercore ISI dropped 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

Shares of ELS stock opened at $65.98 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 market capitalization of $12.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $59.82 and a one year high of $76.60. The company’s 50-day moving average is $66.56 and its 200 day moving average is $69.00.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. Sell-side analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 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, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.64%.

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.