National Pension Service Raises Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

National Pension Service grew its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 20.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,148 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 20,334 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.19% of Essex Property Trust worth $35,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 3.7% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Quilter Plc raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 8,698 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,368,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 781 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $775,500. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Essex Property Trust news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,627.59. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,500. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663. Insiders own 3.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $293.40.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Essex Property Trust stock traded up $2.78 on Thursday, reaching $296.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 340,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 381,397. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $204.64 and a twelve month high of $317.73. The business's fifty day moving average price is $297.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $280.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.63, a PEG ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.49%.

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.