Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 2,575 Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 60.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,575 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,427,405 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $456,872,000 after purchasing an additional 49,268 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $291,081,000 after buying an additional 629,827 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 899,219 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,032,000 after buying an additional 10,435 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 639,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $119,527,000 after buying an additional 22,328 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 355.1% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 305,555 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on EGP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.88.

EastGroup Properties Stock Up 5.2 %

EastGroup Properties stock opened at $169.86 on Wednesday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $155.10 and a one year high of $192.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $166.10 and a 200 day moving average of $176.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.00.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.10 by ($0.97). The business had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.19% and a return on equity of 8.56%. EastGroup Properties’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.70%.

EastGroup Properties 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.