Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Holdings Trimmed by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,989 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 479 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.08% of Essex Property Trust worth $15,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 48,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 99.9% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $974,000 after buying an additional 1,648 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the third quarter worth approximately $217,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at $575,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 92.2% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 2,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $828,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ESS shares. Raymond James cut Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS opened at $299.79 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $298.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. 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 $19.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.02, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total transaction of $2,308,430.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,661.35. This represents a 73.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.