RobertW. Baird & Co. Inc. analyst Drew Babin upgraded his investment opinion of to "outperform"from "neutral," and increased his price target to $74 from $67.

The analystwrote in a research report: "We are upgrading Sun Communities to Outperformand increasing our price target to $74 following Sun's announcement of plans toacquire Carefree Communities and last Wednesday's (03/23/2016) equity offering.We increase our NAV and target multiple to reflect improved portfolio quality andFFO growth and believe additional upside could be unlocked should SUI explore optionsto reduce its leverage to a level more in line with its "defensive" residentialpeers."