Sei Investments Co. Purchases 14,103 Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,103 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $16,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $116,756,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $291,081,000 after acquiring an additional 629,827 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 210.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 479,873 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 355.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 391,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,158,000 after purchasing an additional 305,555 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,056,232 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $169,533,000 after purchasing an additional 268,359 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James raised EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.47.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:EGP opened at $176.63 on Friday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 52 week low of $155.10 and a 52 week high of $192.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $176.62 and its 200-day moving average is $174.66. The firm has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. EastGroup Properties’s 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.