Marshall Wace LLP Purchases New Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 125,073 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $35,701,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.19% of Essex Property Trust as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ESS. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 486.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 223 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $303.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $307.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $1,988,843.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,192.66. This trade represents a 42.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 in the last quarter. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:ESS traded up $2.41 on Thursday, hitting $279.50. 119,187 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 400,353. The company has a market cap of $17.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $290.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $239.37 and a 52 week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. As a group, analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Essex Property Trust 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.