Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Invests $913,000 in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,200 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $913,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings 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 worth $64,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS traded up $2.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $277.70. 510,550 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 400,748. The stock has a market cap of $17.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $240.58 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $290.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $2.57 per share. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is 89.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays reduced their target price on Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $303.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $307.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 in the last 90 days. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.