B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Acquires Shares of 2,185 Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,185 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $645,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 214.3% in the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 600.0% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 112 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 121.8% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 193 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ESS stock traded up $1.19 on Friday, hitting $305.53. The stock had a trading volume of 213,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,829. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $297.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $285.35. The company has a market cap of $19.64 billion, a PE ratio of 35.69, a P/E/G ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 0.88. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $210.36 and a one year high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is 114.49%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $775,500. This trade represents a 48.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,627.59. The trade was a 52.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663 over the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.00.

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.