Investment Management Corp of Ontario Has $329,000 Position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario cut its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,941 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 900 shares during the quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ELS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,761,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $339,713,000 after buying an additional 147,332 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $237,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $484,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $917,000. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ELS has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Equity LifeStyle Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.72, for a total value of $647,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 78,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,058,644.64. This represents a 11.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Trading Down 1.5%

ELS opened at $62.65 on Wednesday. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.86 and a fifty-two week high of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.02 and a quick ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.10.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. The company had revenue of $327.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.34 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.74%.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

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.