Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Grows Stock Position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,053,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,668,586,000 after acquiring an additional 388,888 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,838,809 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,761,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $339,713,000 after purchasing an additional 147,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,833,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $273,014,000 after purchasing an additional 65,191 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,971,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $197,896,000 after buying an additional 193,927 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ELS. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $72.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

Shares of ELS opened at $65.74 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.68. The stock has a market cap of $12.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.71, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $59.82 and a 12-month high of $76.60. 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 (NYSE:ELS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. As a group, research analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.64%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Profile

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.