Bank of New York Mellon Corp Trims Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 530,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 15,463 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.83% of Essex Property Trust worth $144,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 214.3% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 112.3% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 15,050.0% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $294.62 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $281.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $259.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 3.19. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $203.85 and a 1-year high of $298.19.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by ($2.40). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 30.31%. The firm had revenue of $442.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $250.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $271.95.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total transaction of $2,745,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,519.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total transaction of $2,745,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,519.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total value of $1,051,860.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,895.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

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.