Barclays Increases EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Price Target to $198.00

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) had its target price increased by Barclays from $175.00 to $198.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on EastGroup Properties from $190.00 to $178.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on EastGroup Properties in a report on Monday, April 22nd. They set an outperform rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $162.00 to $208.00 in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $215.00 to $200.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $178.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $186.07.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

EastGroup Properties stock opened at $188.44 on Tuesday. EastGroup Properties has a 52 week low of $154.75 and a 52 week high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $172.74 and a 200-day moving average of $173.63.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.91). The company had revenue of $159.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.70 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.16% and a return on equity of 8.69%. The company’s revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that EastGroup Properties will post 8.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $1.27 per share. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 110.20%.

Institutional Trading of EastGroup Properties

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EGP. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 3.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,863,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,233,785,000 after buying an additional 210,207 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 975,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $175,359,000 after purchasing an additional 71,614 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 26.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 953,736 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $171,399,000 after purchasing an additional 197,427 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 666,304 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $122,295,000 after buying an additional 29,479 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 646,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $118,679,000 after buying an additional 146,381 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

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.