Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Lowered to Market Perform at Raymond James

Raymond James lowered shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ESS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $318.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $293.40.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock traded down $5.14 on Monday, hitting $291.36. The stock had a trading volume of 346,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,032. The stock has a market cap of $18.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.88. Essex Property Trust has a twelve month low of $203.85 and a twelve month high of $317.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business's 50 day moving average is $296.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $276.54.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.85 by ($2.40). The company had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 30.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.77 EPS. Analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.55 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is currently 119.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,500. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,500. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were 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 owns 2,585 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $817,661.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 55.7% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 1,325 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Hazelview Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $13,513,000. Vert Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 26,669 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $6,529,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 116.6% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,060 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 1,109 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,926 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $961,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.