MetLife Investment Management LLC Acquires 11,242 Shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,265 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,242 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Equity LifeStyle Properties worth $7,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $380,000. Vert Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $5,296,000 after acquiring an additional 7,092 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 1,301 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 185.8% in 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 during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 82,239 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,477,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ELS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.10.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

ELS stock opened at $63.77 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a PE ratio of 32.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.59. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $58.86 and a 1 year high of $76.60.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.83. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. The firm had revenue of $327.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $391.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This is a boost from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.74%.

Equity LifeStyle Properties 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.