Retirement Systems of Alabama Purchases 5,723 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 294,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,723 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $19,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ELS. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 356.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 534 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ELS. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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 note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.90.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

ELS opened at $66.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $67.09 and its 200-day moving average is $69.44. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $59.82 and a 52-week high of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.02.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 EPS 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 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is currently 97.95%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties 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.