Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 210.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 707,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 479,873 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $113,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in EastGroup Properties by 503.3% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in EastGroup Properties by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of EastGroup Properties in the third quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 602 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

Shares of EGP opened at $184.51 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a current ratio of 0.12. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.10 and a 1 year high of $192.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $171.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.25.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.15 earnings per share (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, sell-side analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 earnings per share for the current year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 120.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on EGP shares. Raymond James raised shares of EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $168.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $174.00 to $194.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.65.

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.