EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Shares Bought by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $13,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EGP. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 15,551 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,496,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 64,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,422,000 after acquiring an additional 4,430 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,006,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $100,579,000. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 13,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,215,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE EGP opened at $160.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.94. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.10 and a 1 year high of $192.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $177.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.94.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 35.57%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 120.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EGP has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James raised EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $174.00 to $194.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $181.00) on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.