Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 1,977 Shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. cut its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) by 47.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,203 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,977 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in EastGroup Properties were worth $412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of EGP. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 47.7% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 30.2% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 345 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 7.1% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 4.9% during the third quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 2,085 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in EastGroup Properties by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,093 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,328,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties from $158.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $175.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $186.00 price target on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $191.21.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EGP opened at $171.99 on Friday. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $155.23 and a twelve month high of $192.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $8.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.54, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $180.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.53.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by ($0.97). The firm had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.52 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 37.19% and a return on equity of 8.56%. EastGroup Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.95 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from EastGroup Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.70%.

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.