EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Short Interest Down 22.6% in December

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,370,000 shares, a decline of 22.6% from the December 15th total of 1,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 333,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James upgraded EastGroup Properties from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $185.00 to $200.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $214.00 to $199.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.88.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,427,405 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $456,872,000 after purchasing an additional 49,268 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 67.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,558,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $291,081,000 after buying an additional 629,827 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 899,219 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,032,000 after acquiring an additional 10,435 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 728,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $123,848,000 after acquiring an additional 53,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in EastGroup Properties by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 639,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $119,527,000 after acquiring an additional 22,328 shares during the last quarter. 92.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

NYSE:EGP opened at $161.56 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $166.94 and a 200-day moving average of $176.94. EastGroup Properties has a 52 week low of $155.10 and a 52 week high of $192.61. The company has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.38, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.00.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 8.56% and a net margin of 37.19%. The business had revenue of $162.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.52 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that EastGroup Properties will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.70%.

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.