Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 269,923 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned approximately 0.69% of Essex Property Trust worth $131,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $392,766,000 after acquiring an additional 183,947 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,001,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $272,682,000 after buying an additional 3,977 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $256,280,000 after acquiring an additional 12,822 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 754,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $222,800,000 after buying an additional 47,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 741,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $201,715,000 after acquiring an additional 6,216 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In related news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,627.59. This trade represents a 52.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,949 shares of company stock worth $5,663,763. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Bank of America lowered Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of ESS opened at $303.95 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a PEG ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $218.59 and a one year high of $317.73. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $297.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $287.56.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Essex Property Trust’s 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.