EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Price Target Lowered to $180.00 at Morgan Stanley

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $180.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on EGP. Mizuho raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $186.00 price target on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $209.00 price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, EastGroup Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.40.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EastGroup Properties stock opened at $161.13 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $171.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.72. EastGroup Properties has a one year low of $155.23 and a one year high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The firm had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.52 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that EastGroup Properties will post 8.35 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is presently 115.70%.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,427,405 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $456,872,000 after buying an additional 49,268 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $291,081,000 after acquiring an additional 629,827 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 899,219 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,032,000 after acquiring an additional 10,435 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 728,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $123,848,000 after purchasing an additional 53,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 3.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 639,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $119,527,000 after purchasing an additional 22,328 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Company Profile

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.