Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $73.78.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ELS. Evercore ISI lowered their price target 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th.

Institutional Trading of Equity LifeStyle Properties

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 11,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 388,888 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 199.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 52,547 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 34,993 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the fourth quarter worth $4,074,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 103,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,900,000 after purchasing an additional 30,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Up 0.7 %

Equity LifeStyle Properties stock opened at $66.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.47. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a 1-year low of $59.82 and a 1-year high of $76.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. On average, analysts predict that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is 97.95%.

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.