EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $205.00 price objective on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Friday, January 16th. Piper Sandler set a $220.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a research note on Friday, December 12th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of EastGroup Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $207.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, October 27th. KeyCorp raised shares of EastGroup Properties from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $188.00 price objective on EastGroup Properties in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.53.

EastGroup Properties Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of EGP stock opened at $190.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.01 and a current ratio of 0.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $181.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a PE ratio of 39.04, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. EastGroup Properties has a 52-week low of $137.67 and a 52-week high of $191.03.

EastGroup Properties (NYSE:EGP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.01. EastGroup Properties had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 35.68%.The business had revenue of $187.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $185.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. EastGroup Properties has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.400-9.600 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.250-2.330 EPS. On average, analysts predict that EastGroup Properties will post 8.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EastGroup Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $1.55 dividend. This represents a $6.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. EastGroup Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 127.31%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On EastGroup Properties

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in EastGroup Properties by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,350,473 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,244,141,000 after buying an additional 43,633 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of EastGroup Properties by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,683,711 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $458,320,000 after buying an additional 15,918 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in EastGroup Properties by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,303,804 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $410,404,000 after buying an additional 318,261 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of EastGroup Properties during the second quarter worth approximately $252,405,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 2.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,204,211 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $203,834,000 after purchasing an additional 25,055 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.14% of the company’s stock.

EastGroup Properties Company Profile

EastGroup Properties, Inc (NYSE: EGP) is a real estate investment trust specializing in the ownership, development and management of industrial properties. Focused primarily on distribution-oriented facilities, the company’s portfolio consists of modern warehouse and light manufacturing buildings located in high-growth Sunbelt markets. EastGroup concentrates on delivering strategic logistics solutions to customers requiring proximity to transportation hubs and major population centers across the southern United States.

Since its founding in 1969, EastGroup has pursued a disciplined growth strategy that combines property development, targeted acquisitions and hands-on asset management.