Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Short Interest Down 6.9% in November

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 910,000 shares, a decline of 6.9% from the November 15th total of 977,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 365,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS traded down $5.19 on Tuesday, hitting $293.86. 233,836 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 370,814. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $298.31 and its 200 day moving average is $290.40. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $223.06 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.90.

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 (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 business had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.56 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.49%.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 7.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 48,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 99.9% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at about $217,000. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $575,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 92.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 2,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $828,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Raymond James lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price target 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, Bank of America lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.11.

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.