World Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $575,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $212,583,000 after acquiring an additional 633,200 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 424,157 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $98,594,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $84,393,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,282,000 after buying an additional 269,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on 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, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $299.17 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $298.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.40. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $223.06 and a 52-week high of $317.73. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $19.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its 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). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. 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.