Sarasin & Partners LLP Decreases Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Sarasin & Partners LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,285 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 1,005 shares during the quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $4,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 237.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $443,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,594 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 4.5% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,492 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,223,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 315,454 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $85,867,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ESS. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $316.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $305.42.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

ESS stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $283.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 364,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,089. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $223.06 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The stock has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $293.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $291.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.49%.

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.