Northern Trust Corp Raises Holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 43.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,434,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 735,580 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.27% of Equity LifeStyle Properties worth $162,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ELS. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,070,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $404,319,000 after buying an additional 3,838,809 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,918,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,955,000 after acquiring an additional 3,352,584 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter valued at about $163,212,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,391,000. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the fourth quarter worth about $36,520,000. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.33.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

NYSE:ELS opened at $65.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.55 billion, a PE ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.86 and a 52 week high of $76.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $66.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.40.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.83. The company had revenue of $327.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.34 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.74%.

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.