Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Shares Sold by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,299 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,892 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $1,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ELS. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $404,319,000 after purchasing an additional 3,838,809 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 370.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,329,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,834,491 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,626,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $116,068,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,846 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the third quarter valued at $54,866,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 14,049.2% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,971 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,935,000 after purchasing an additional 708,925 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ELS. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective 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. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

NYSE ELS opened at $67.83 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.03. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $59.82 and a twelve month high of $76.60. The company has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of 34.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. On average, 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.64%.

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.