Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Sells 38 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd trimmed its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 5.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 678 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 38 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 147.9% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 7.6% during the first quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 937 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,299,000. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 744,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $182,185,000 after acquiring an additional 23,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 47,068 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,287,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Raymond James cut Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of Essex Property Trust 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 $2,991,559.40. The trade was a 45.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,500. The trade was a 48.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:ESS opened at $312.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $210.36 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $297.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $286.47.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The firm had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 114.49%.

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.