Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 24,617 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $7,027,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.3% during the 4th 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. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,527 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,408,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares during the period. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 28,367 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,097,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company's stock.
Essex Property Trust Stock Performance
NYSE ESS traded up $1.34 on Monday, hitting $276.84. 215,396 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 399,605. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $290.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.08. The firm has a market cap of $17.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $240.58 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73.
Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.
Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is currently 89.08%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ESS. Mizuho cut their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $307.11.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Essex Property Trust
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
About Essex Property Trust
(
Free Report)
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.
Featured Articles
Before you consider Essex Property Trust, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Essex Property Trust wasn't on the list.
While Essex Property Trust currently has a Hold rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of ten stocks that are set to soar in Spring 2025, despite the threat of tariffs and other economic uncertainty. These ten stocks are incredibly resilient and are likely to thrive in any economic environment.
Get This Free Report
