Sophron Capital Management L.P. Buys New Shares in Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS)

Sophron Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. (NYSE:ELS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 45,191 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,010,000. Equity LifeStyle Properties comprises approximately 1.2% of Sophron Capital Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ELS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,838,809 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 592.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,918,241 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $260,955,000 after purchasing an additional 3,352,584 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties in the fourth quarter valued at about $163,212,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 43.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,434,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,162,000 after buying an additional 735,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties by 221.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 975,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,961,000 after buying an additional 671,703 shares during the period. 97.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Equity LifeStyle Properties

In other Equity LifeStyle Properties news, CFO Paul Seavey sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.72, for a total value of $647,200.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 78,162 shares in the company, valued at $5,058,644.64. This trade represents a 11.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Stock Up 1.7%

ELS stock opened at $64.89 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a PE ratio of 33.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.76. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $58.86 and a 52 week high of $76.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.96.

Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83. The company had revenue of $327.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity LifeStyle Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 27th. Equity LifeStyle Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ELS has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Equity LifeStyle Properties from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Equity LifeStyle Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.33.

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.