Westpac Banking Corp Takes Position in Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. $ELS

Westpac Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 38,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,455,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Equity Lifestyle Properties by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,477,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,544,190,000 after purchasing an additional 592,013 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,576,449,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties by 303.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,948,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $966,648,000 after buying an additional 11,999,874 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 10,614,040 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $643,331,000 after buying an additional 2,246,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties by 1.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,435,365 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $401,698,000 after buying an additional 66,772 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Equity Lifestyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of ELS opened at $65.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.48, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $64.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.02 and a quick ratio of 0.02. Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $58.72 and a 12 month high of $69.00.

Equity Lifestyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $397.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $383.66 million. Equity Lifestyle Properties had a return on equity of 22.31% and a net margin of 25.92%.Equity Lifestyle Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity Lifestyle Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Friday, September 25th will be issued a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th. Equity Lifestyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ELS. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley restated a “mixed” rating and issued a $59.00 target price (down from $62.50) on shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Equity Lifestyle Properties to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Odeon Capital Group set a $65.00 price objective on Equity Lifestyle Properties in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Equity Lifestyle Properties from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.52.

Equity Lifestyle Properties Profile

Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc (NYSE: ELS) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust specializing in the acquisition, development, ownership and operation of manufactured home communities and recreational vehicle resorts. The company’s portfolio includes more than 450 properties across the United States and Canada, serving over 200,000 residents and visitors. ELS organizes its operations into two primary segments: manufactured housing communities, which provide long-term housing solutions, and upscale RV and seasonal resorts designed for leisure travelers and seasonal patrons.

In its manufactured home division, ELS offers home-site leases combined with community amenities such as landscaped common areas, clubhouses, swimming pools and organized resident events.