Angela L. Kleiman Sells 8,080 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Stock

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,559.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $312.42 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $291.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $267.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $203.85 and a 12-month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by ($2.40). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 30.31%. The company had revenue of $442.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 119.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,072,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $761,760,000 after acquiring an additional 730,141 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 86.5% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 997,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,269,000 after purchasing an additional 462,828 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 27,120.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 425,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,881,000 after purchasing an additional 424,157 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $98,594,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $448,701,000 after buying an additional 147,130 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $250.00 to $266.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $291.10.

About Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc, an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast markets. Essex currently has ownership interests in 252 apartment communities comprising approximately 62,000 apartment homes with an additional property in active development.