Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Sold by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. reduced its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,127 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 16,626 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.40% of Essex Property Trust worth $73,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $212,583,000 after purchasing an additional 633,200 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $131,282,000 after buying an additional 269,923 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 225,768 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $64,443,000 after buying an additional 150,927 shares during the last quarter. Waterfront Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,823,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $426,532,000 after acquiring an additional 70,785 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS traded down $1.54 on Thursday, hitting $304.69. 287,599 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 361,198. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $293.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $294.69. The stock has a market cap of $19.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.90 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $1,988,843.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,724,192.66. The trade was a 42.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 in the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.