Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 231 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lowered its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 100,197 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 231 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $6,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ELS. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 30,930 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,971,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $197,896,000 after purchasing an additional 193,927 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,854 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp raised its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 63,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,238,000 after buying an additional 4,017 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

ELS stock opened at $68.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $66.83 and its 200 day moving average is $68.79. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $59.82 and a 52 week high of $76.60.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. Research analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is presently 105.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ELS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity LifeStyle Properties has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Profile

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.