Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 58,515 Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 58,515 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $16,703,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned about 0.09% of Essex Property Trust at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,334,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 162.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $22,109,000 after buying an additional 46,354 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,656 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,611,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth about $541,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

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Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS traded down $1.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $298.84. 402,471 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 358,130. The stock has a market cap of $19.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.90 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $290.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. The trade was 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, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $1,988,843.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,654 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,192.66. The trade was a 42.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $307.16.

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.