Xponance Inc. Raises Stock Position in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,930 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,326 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Equity LifeStyle Properties were worth $2,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in 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 valued at $404,319,000 after purchasing an additional 3,838,809 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Equity LifeStyle Properties by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,761,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $339,713,000 after purchasing an additional 147,332 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,833,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $273,014,000 after buying an additional 65,191 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,971,493 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $197,896,000 after buying an additional 193,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,553,330 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $170,052,000 after buying an additional 112,139 shares in the last quarter. 97.21% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ELS opened at $68.47 on Friday. Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.82 and a fifty-two week high of $76.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.79.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76. Equity LifeStyle Properties had a return on equity of 23.12% and a net margin of 24.05%. On average, analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.515 dividend. This is a positive change from Equity LifeStyle Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s payout ratio is 105.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ELS. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI dropped their target price 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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 research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.78.

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.