Employees Retirement System of Texas Grows Stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 44.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned 0.10% of EastGroup Properties worth $8,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 8,282 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,547,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in EastGroup Properties during the 3rd quarter worth $6,651,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the third quarter valued at $102,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 65.5% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 29,098 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,436,000 after acquiring an additional 11,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,427,405 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $456,872,000 after purchasing an additional 49,268 shares during the last quarter. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EGP. Jefferies Financial Group raised EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $174.00 to $194.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 30th. StockNews.com lowered EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.47.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of EastGroup Properties stock opened at $160.59 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $177.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.83. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $151.69 and a 12-month high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.94.

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

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.