Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 84 Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $86,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 151,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,362,000 after buying an additional 4,327 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 92,939 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. Castellan Group purchased a new position in EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,622,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,306,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 13,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,199,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EGP. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $174.00 to $194.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James raised EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.65.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EastGroup Properties stock opened at $178.93 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $168.25 and a 200 day moving average of $175.20. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $155.10 and a 12 month high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.00.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.99. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 7.89%. On average, research analysts expect that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 120.43%.

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.