Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $80.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ELS. Truist Financial raised Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lowered 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Equity LifeStyle Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.20.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Down 0.5 %

ELS opened at $63.71 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a PE ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.72. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a twelve month low of $58.86 and a twelve month high of $76.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $66.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. Sell-side analysts expect that Equity LifeStyle Properties will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This is a boost from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is 105.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Equity LifeStyle Properties

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties during the 4th quarter worth about $380,000. Vert Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 79,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,296,000 after purchasing an additional 7,092 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 21,574 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 95.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 32,578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,311,000 after purchasing an additional 15,899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 185.8% during the fourth quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 24,882 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 16,176 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

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.