Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 2,964 Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,476 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,964 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EGP. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 13,351 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,494,000 after buying an additional 763 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,892 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 1,638 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,885,000 after buying an additional 4,240 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,063,000 after buying an additional 1,648 shares during the period. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 128,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,037,000 after buying an additional 1,283 shares during the period. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EGP shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $174.00 to $194.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.65.

EastGroup Properties Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:EGP opened at $181.09 on Thursday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.10 and a twelve month high of $192.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $172.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.22. The company has a market cap of $9.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99.

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

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 120.43%.

About EastGroup Properties

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.