EASTGROUP PROPERTIES REIT INC (EGP)
Sector: Real Estate
2026 Annual Meeting Analysis
EASTGROUP PROPERTIES REIT INC · Meeting: May 21, 2026
Directors FOR
7
Directors AGAINST
0
Say on Pay
FOR
Auditor
AGAINST
Director Elections
Election of Directors
Aloian has served since 1999 and brings deep real estate investment and capital markets expertise; EGP's 3-year total return of +30.9% outperforms the peer group median by +3.6 percentage points, well below the 65-point threshold that would trigger an AGAINST vote, and no overboarding, attendance, or independence concerns are present.
Bolton holds three public company board seats (EGP, MAA as Executive Chairman, and RHP), which meets the company's own policy limit of two outside boards for executive officers; the proxy explicitly addresses this and confirms his Executive Chairman role at MAA is not a day-to-day operating role and is scheduled to end December 31, 2026, so the overboarding policy trigger of 2+ outside boards for a sitting CEO does not clearly apply given the non-operating nature of his MAA role, and EGP's strong relative TSR performance means the TSR trigger does not fire.
Colleran has served since 2017 as independent Chairman and brings extensive senior executive and logistics experience relevant to EGP's industrial REIT focus; no TSR, overboarding, attendance, or independence concerns are present.
Fields joined in 2022 and brings over 30 years of real estate legal and senior leadership experience; EGP's strong relative TSR performance means the TSR trigger does not fire, and no other policy concerns are present.
Kessler is a new nominee with no prior tenure on this board and is therefore exempt from the TSR trigger; she brings highly relevant credentials as Co-CEO, Co-President, and former CFO of a publicly traded REIT, and no other policy concerns are present.
Loeb is the CEO and has served as a director since 2016; EGP's 3-year total return of +30.9% outperforms the compensation peer group median by +3.6 percentage points, far below the 65-point underperformance threshold required to trigger an AGAINST vote, and no other policy concerns are present.
McCormick has served since 2005 as Audit Committee Chairperson and brings deep real estate investment and finance expertise; EGP's strong relative TSR performance means the TSR trigger does not fire, and all attendance, independence, and qualification criteria are met.
All seven director nominees receive a FOR vote determination. EGP's 3-year total shareholder return of +30.9% outperforms the compensation peer group median of +27.3% by +3.6 percentage points, far short of the 65-point underperformance threshold required to trigger concern for a company with strong positive returns. The board is well-qualified with relevant real estate and financial expertise, six of seven directors are independent, attendance exceeded 75% for all nominees, and no overboarding, familial relationship, or independence concerns rise to the level of a policy trigger.
Say on Pay
✓ FORCEO
Marshall A. Loeb
Total Comp
$9,437,394
Prior Support
95.8%%
CEO Marshall Loeb's total compensation of approximately $9.4 million is within a reasonable range for the CEO of a $10 billion industrial REIT with a track record of record financial performance, including 7.5% FFO per share growth and a 3-year total shareholder return that ranks at the 89th percentile of the Nareit Industrial Index. The pay structure is well-designed: roughly 80% of the CEO's compensation is variable and performance-linked through a rigorous annual incentive plan tied to four measurable REIT financial metrics and a long-term plan based entirely on relative total shareholder return versus both the Nareit Equity Index and the Nareit Industrial Index. Shareholders have supported this program with over 95% approval for nine consecutive years, no governance red flags such as lack of a clawback policy or problematic pay mix are present, and pay-for-performance alignment is strong given EGP's outperformance of both its peer group and the ^FNER — FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index benchmark.
Auditor Ratification
✗ AGAINSTAuditor
KPMG LLP
Tenure
56 yrs
Audit Fees
$919,980
Non-Audit Fees
$20,000
KPMG has served as EastGroup's auditor since 1970, a tenure of approximately 56 years, which far exceeds the 25-year threshold in our voting policy that triggers an AGAINST vote on independence grounds. The non-audit fee ratio is only about 2% of audit fees (well within the 50% limit), and audit quality does not appear compromised, but the extraordinary length of this relationship — over five decades with the same audit firm — raises serious concerns about whether KPMG can maintain the independent professional skepticism that shareholders depend on. The proxy's stated rationale for continued engagement (institutional knowledge and competitive fees) does not constitute the specific and compelling justification required by our policy to override the tenure trigger.
Overall Assessment
The 2026 EastGroup Properties annual meeting presents a clean ballot with three standard proposals. We vote FOR all seven director nominees and FOR the executive compensation program given EGP's strong operational and total shareholder return performance, but vote AGAINST ratification of KPMG due to an auditor tenure of approximately 56 years that far exceeds the 25-year independence threshold in our voting policy.
Compensation Peer Group
14 companies disclosed in 2026 proxy filing