Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 93,112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $6,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% in 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 during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 370.6% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,329,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834,491 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,626,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $116,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,846 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,866,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 14,049.2% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 713,971 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,935,000 after purchasing an additional 708,925 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ELS has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $69.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.78.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ELS opened at $68.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79. 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 $59.82 and a 1 year high of $76.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $66.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.18.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.515 dividend. This is a boost from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is 105.64%.

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.