Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 70,785 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 70,785 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 2.33% of Essex Property Trust worth $426,532,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the fourth 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 during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 104.5% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 225 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE ESS traded up $1.49 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $292.27. 349,990 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 471,973. The company has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.81. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $225.40 and a 12-month high of $317.73.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. As a group, analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is presently 84.92%.

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.