Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,787 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $5,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during 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. acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $527,904. The trade was a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 1.0 %

Essex Property Trust stock traded up $2.92 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $305.93. 574,731 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 361,732. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.90 and a 52-week high of $317.73. The business's 50-day moving average price is $293.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This is an increase 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 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

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.