Eastgroup Properties (EGP) Upgraded by Zacks Investment Research to Buy

Eastgroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday. The brokerage currently has a $107.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.62% from the company’s current price.

According to Zacks, “EastGroup Properties is a self-administered real estate investment trust focused on ownership, acquisition and selective development of industrial properties. The company pursues a three-pronged investment strategy that includes: the acquisition of industrial properties at favorable initial yields, with opportunities to improve cash flow performance through management; selective development of industrial properties in markets where they already has a presence and where market conditions justify such investments; and the acquisition of existing public & private companies. “

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Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. ValuEngine raised Eastgroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Eastgroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $93.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Eastgroup Properties presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.60.

EGP stock opened at $97.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 0.91. Eastgroup Properties has a 12-month low of $77.74 and a 12-month high of $97.61.

Eastgroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $72.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.62 million. Eastgroup Properties had a return on equity of 13.33% and a net margin of 35.36%. The business’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. research analysts predict that Eastgroup Properties will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, insider John F. Coleman sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total transaction of $512,520.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director H C. Bailey, Jr. sold 265 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.44, for a total value of $25,556.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,759 shares in the company, valued at $362,517.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,297 shares of company stock worth $634,445 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EGP. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Eastgroup Properties by 8.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,830,140 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $481,921,000 after purchasing an additional 436,478 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastgroup Properties by 74.2% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 812,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $71,820,000 after purchasing an additional 346,140 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastgroup Properties by 2,585.8% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 304,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,140,000 after purchasing an additional 292,819 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Eastgroup Properties during the first quarter valued at about $8,313,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Eastgroup Properties by 319.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 130,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,542,000 after buying an additional 99,500 shares in the last quarter. 93.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastgroup Properties Company Profile

EastGroup Properties, Inc 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.

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