Versant Capital Management Inc Has $97,000 Stock Holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 18.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $97,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EGP. State Street Corp increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,427,405 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $456,872,000 after purchasing an additional 49,268 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 67.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 629,827 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $168,032,000 after buying an additional 10,435 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 53,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 3.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 639,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $119,527,000 after buying an additional 22,328 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EGP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $186.00 price target on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.56.

EastGroup Properties Stock Up 1.7 %

EGP stock opened at $160.95 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $169.20 and a 200-day moving average of $177.43. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $155.23 and a fifty-two week high of $192.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.97). The firm had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.