Fmr LLC Sells 95,953 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

FMR LLC trimmed its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 10.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 864,310 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 95,953 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned approximately 1.34% of Essex Property Trust worth $255,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at $4,299,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 47,068 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,287,000 after acquiring an additional 6,163 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 53.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 907 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 11.2% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 12,316 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,352,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $131,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ESS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective 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. Truist Financial increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $318.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $297.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,991,559.40. The trade was a 45.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total value of $2,308,430.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $817,661.35. This trade represents a 73.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,949 shares of company stock valued at $5,663,763. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE ESS traded down $6.37 during trading on Monday, reaching $304.09. The company had a trading volume of 131,517 shares, compared to its average volume of 373,589. The stock has a market cap of $19.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.27, a PEG ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 0.88. The company's fifty day moving average price is $297.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $287.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $218.59 and a 12 month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is 114.49%.

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.