Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Buys 531 Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 531 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $4,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in EastGroup Properties by 7.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 728,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $123,848,000 after acquiring an additional 53,083 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,746 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,508,000 after purchasing an additional 3,573 shares in the last quarter. Hardin Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in EastGroup Properties during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,319,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 7.1% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,346 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after buying an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 5.0% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 29,868 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,994,000 after buying an additional 1,425 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. BNP Paribas started coverage on EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $167.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI upgraded EastGroup Properties from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $192.00 to $204.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on EastGroup Properties from $176.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, EastGroup Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.00.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EGP stock opened at $186.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.21. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $154.75 and a 52-week high of $192.61. The stock has a market cap of $8.99 billion, a PE ratio of 40.53, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.99.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.05 by ($0.91). The company had revenue of $159.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 37.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 121.48%.

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.