Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS - Free Report) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,620 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 24,610 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $5,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Pension Service acquired a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 121.4% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 383 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 564 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Evercore ISI cut 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, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a "buy" rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.33.

Insider Activity

In other Equity LifeStyle Properties news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.72, for a total value of $647,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 78,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,058,644.64. The trade was a 11.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Up 1.7%

ELS stock traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $64.89. 858,769 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,303,123. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.02. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.86 and a 1-year high of $76.60. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $65.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.96. The company has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.76.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83. The business had revenue of $327.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $391.34 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Equity LifeStyle Properties's payout ratio is 106.74%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Company 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.