Capital Fund Management S.A. Purchases New Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Capital Fund Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 31,079 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $8,871,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,334,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,656 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,611,000 after acquiring an additional 986 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $7,027,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,527 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ESS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % 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. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.4 %

ESS stock traded up $1.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $273.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 697,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 400,609. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $293.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.90 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The stock has a market cap of $17.62 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.