EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Shares Bought by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 95,887 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $15,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,125 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in EastGroup Properties during the fourth quarter worth $1,946,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 210.6% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 707,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $113,584,000 after acquiring an additional 479,873 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in EastGroup Properties by 49.8% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 30,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,843,000 after acquiring an additional 10,027 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers lifted its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 44,440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,132,000 after acquiring an additional 4,780 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on EGP shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $174.00 to $194.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, EastGroup Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.47.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

EastGroup Properties stock opened at $178.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $155.10 and a 12-month high of $192.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $174.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.99.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 7.89%. Equities analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 120.43%.

EastGroup Properties Company Profile

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.