Oak Thistle LLC Sells 2,555 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Oak Thistle LLC trimmed its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 57.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,902 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 2,555 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $508,381,000 after purchasing an additional 25,591 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $392,766,000 after buying an additional 183,947 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,501 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $256,280,000 after buying an additional 12,822 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 754,179 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $222,800,000 after acquiring an additional 47,114 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 741,053 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $201,715,000 after acquiring an additional 6,216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $316.00 price target for the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Essex Property Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $305.42.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE ESS traded down $0.55 on Friday, hitting $283.20. 364,613 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 520,828. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $223.06 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $293.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $291.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The company had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is currently 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.