EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Sets New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as $155.10 and last traded at $156.04, with a volume of 23168 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $158.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James raised EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com downgraded EastGroup Properties from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $191.56.

EastGroup Properties Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $167.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $7.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.21, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.00.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EastGroup Properties

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in EastGroup Properties by 10,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in EastGroup Properties during the second quarter worth $66,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 3.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 170,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,995,000 after acquiring an additional 5,416 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 29,868 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,346 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

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.