Boston Partners Has $169.53 Million Stock Position in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 34.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,056,232 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 268,359 shares during the period. Boston Partners’ holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $169,533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 503.3% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in EastGroup Properties in the third quarter valued at about $102,000. 92.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EGP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $192.00 to $194.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $186.00 to $180.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 30th. StockNews.com raised EastGroup Properties from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up from $181.00) on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research report on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.47.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EGP opened at $179.36 on Wednesday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.10 and a 1 year high of $192.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.12 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $9.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $174.32 and a 200-day moving average of $174.97.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last issued its 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, equities research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. EastGroup Properties’s payout ratio is currently 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.