Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) Trading Up 3.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)’s share price traded up 3.1% during trading on Wednesday after Compass Point raised their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $72.00. Compass Point currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Equity LifeStyle Properties traded as high as $70.89 and last traded at $70.81. 738,702 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 1,204,292 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.69.

ELS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “hold” rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.50 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $76.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity LifeStyle Properties

In other news, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total transaction of $2,492,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 260,936 shares in the company, valued at $19,705,886.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marguerite M. Nader sold 33,000 shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.52, for a total value of $2,492,160.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 260,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,705,886.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Patrick Waite sold 20,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.23, for a total value of $1,462,188.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 221,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,575,398.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 85,808 shares of company stock worth $6,348,011. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity LifeStyle Properties

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 59,874 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,224,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the first quarter worth approximately $422,000. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 2.5% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 45,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.6% in the first quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 12,404 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. 97.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $71.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.81.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $387.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.78 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.71% and a net margin of 23.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.4775 per share. This is a boost from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $1.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.37%.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 29, 2024, we own or have an interest in 451 properties in 35 states and British Columbia consisting of 172,465 sites.