Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Director Sells $2,298,870.00 in Stock

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Essex Property Trust stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $301.55. 554,556 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 357,204. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $288.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.56. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73. 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 (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share 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, research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 89.08%.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,353,157 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,955,205,000 after buying an additional 61,645 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,758,174 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $500,688,000 after buying an additional 32,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $471,258,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $426,532,000 after buying an additional 70,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $392,766,000 after buying an additional 183,947 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $306.63.

About Essex Property Trust

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.