EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $187.40.

A number of research firms recently commented on EGP. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $180.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $175.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays decreased their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $193.00 to $182.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 27th.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the first quarter worth $567,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the first quarter worth $219,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 28.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 190,144 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,494,000 after acquiring an additional 41,538 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 18,900.0% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 950 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 945 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 0.7% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 13,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,448,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of EastGroup Properties stock opened at $173.18 on Friday. EastGroup Properties has a 1-year low of $137.67 and a 1-year high of $192.61. The stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.01. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 35.57%. The firm had revenue of $174.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that EastGroup Properties will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 122.54%.

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.