The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Stock Position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 156,686 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 8,335 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.08% of Equity LifeStyle Properties worth $10,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.6% in the 4th 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 holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% during 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,761,879 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $339,713,000 after buying an additional 147,332 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,918,241 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $260,955,000 after buying an additional 3,352,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,887,371 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $258,536,000 after buying an additional 53,775 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Equity LifeStyle Properties

In related news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.72, for a total transaction of $647,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 78,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,058,644.64. This represents a 11.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Equity LifeStyle Properties presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.33.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Performance

Shares of ELS stock traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $64.33. 942,489 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,308,538. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $65.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.19. The company has a market cap of $12.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.86 and a 12-month high of $76.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.02 and a quick ratio of 0.03.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83. The business had revenue of $327.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Equity LifeStyle Properties's payout ratio is 106.74%.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

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.