Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) Stock Rating Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $78.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on ELS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.20.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

ELS opened at $65.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 1 year low of $59.82 and a 1 year high of $76.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.32. The stock has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.82, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.72.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. Analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,070,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $404,319,000 after acquiring an additional 3,838,809 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,918,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,955,000 after purchasing an additional 3,352,584 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $163,212,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,434,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,162,000 after purchasing an additional 735,580 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 221.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 975,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,961,000 after buying an additional 671,703 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of lifestyle-oriented properties consisting primarily of manufactured home, and recreational vehicle communities. It operates through the following segments: Property Operations and Home Sales and Rentals Operations.