Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases New Position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 12,123 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,946,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,458 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. waypoint wealth counsel boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. waypoint wealth counsel now owns 5,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 10,042 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,612,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $194.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.65.

EastGroup Properties Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE EGP opened at $179.96 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.23. The company has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a PE ratio of 38.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.10 and a 12 month high of $192.61.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 35.57%. Research analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 120.43%.

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.