EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP) Shares Acquired by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,307 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 2,690 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of EastGroup Properties worth $4,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 337.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 49,097 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,728,000 after buying an additional 37,863 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of EastGroup Properties by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of EastGroup Properties by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 452,429 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $72,610,000 after purchasing an additional 23,626 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the fourth quarter worth $1,871,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in EastGroup Properties by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 72,392 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,667,000 after buying an additional 4,176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on EGP shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $174.00 to $194.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on EastGroup Properties from $189.00 to $183.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Raymond James set a $190.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $186.94.

EastGroup Properties Price Performance

Shares of EGP traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $163.34. 450,990 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 370,151. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.39. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $137.67 and a fifty-two week high of $192.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a PE ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $174.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $169.67 million. EastGroup Properties had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that EastGroup Properties, Inc. will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. EastGroup Properties's dividend payout ratio is currently 122.54%.

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.