Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Acquires 9,287 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 36.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,432 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 9,287 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned about 0.05% of Essex Property Trust worth $9,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 486.8% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 223 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS traded up $2.92 on Wednesday, reaching $305.93. 574,731 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 361,732. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $293.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $294.61. The stock has a market cap of $19.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.51, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.90 and a 52-week high of $317.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ESS. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essex Property Trust from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $307.16.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $1,988,843.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,724,192.66. This represents a 42.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % 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 three months. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

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.