Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $72.50.

ELS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Compass Point increased their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $70.50 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of ELS stock opened at $66.66 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.90 and its 200 day moving average is $69.00. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 1-year low of $59.82 and a 1-year high of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.77.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $387.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.78 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 24.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.477 per share. This represents a $1.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ELS. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,699 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 167.1% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 625 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 27.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 100,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,520,000 after buying an additional 21,686 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 8.7% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $363,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

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.