Walleye Capital LLC Takes Position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,880 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 172.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,070,817 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $404,319,000 after buying an additional 3,838,809 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,918,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,955,000 after acquiring an additional 3,352,584 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the fourth quarter worth $163,212,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC purchased a new position in Equity LifeStyle Properties during the fourth quarter valued at $41,391,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.6% in the fourth 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ELS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Equity LifeStyle Properties in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.10.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of ELS opened at $63.77 on Wednesday. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.86 and a 12-month high of $76.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $66.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.59. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.83. The business had revenue of $327.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $391.34 million. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a net margin of 24.05% and a return on equity of 23.12%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. This is an increase from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is currently 106.74%.

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.