EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Announces $1.40 Quarterly Dividend

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 7th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 1.40 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

EastGroup Properties has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.3% per year over the last three years. EastGroup Properties has a payout ratio of 102.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect EastGroup Properties to earn $9.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.6%.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of EastGroup Properties stock opened at $176.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. EastGroup Properties has a 12-month low of $155.10 and a 12-month high of $192.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $176.92 and its 200-day moving average is $174.59.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.47.

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.