EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Short Interest Update

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, an increase of 16.7% from the October 15th total of 1,320,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 336,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $178.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $209.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $186.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $191.21.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EGP. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $291,081,000 after buying an additional 629,827 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 355.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 391,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,158,000 after buying an additional 305,555 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,863,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,233,785,000 after buying an additional 210,207 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,131,000. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 26.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 953,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $171,399,000 after buying an additional 197,427 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of EastGroup Properties stock opened at $171.99 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $180.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.67. The company has a market cap of $8.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.54, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.00. EastGroup Properties has a 12-month low of $155.23 and a 12-month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.97). EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.19% and a return on equity of 8.56%. The company 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 posted $1.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is 115.70%.

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.