Oak Thistle LLC Lowers Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Oak Thistle LLC reduced its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 57.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,555 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 104.5% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1,247.2% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $316.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.42.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $284.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.18, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.92. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $223.06 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $293.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.65.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

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.