Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) CAO Anne Morrison Sells 2,571 Shares

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $809,325.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at $730,627.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.1 %

ESS opened at $312.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $291.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market cap of $20.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.88. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by ($2.40). The business had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 9.14%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,072,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $761,760,000 after purchasing an additional 730,141 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 86.5% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 997,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,269,000 after buying an additional 462,828 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 27,120.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 425,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,881,000 after buying an additional 424,157 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the second quarter valued at about $98,594,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 8.7% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 147,130 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $291.10.

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.