Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) to Buy

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) was upgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $80.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price target of $72.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 18.01% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Compass Point lifted their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $70.50 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.30.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ELS opened at $67.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.95 billion, a PE ratio of 34.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.39 and a 200-day moving average of $69.30. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a one year low of $59.82 and a one year high of $76.60.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $387.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $315.78 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 24.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity LifeStyle Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 356.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 534 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 31.3% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the second quarter worth $54,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the third quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the third quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 29, 2024, we own or have an interest in 451 properties in 35 states and British Columbia consisting of 172,465 sites.