Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Short Interest Down 17.6% in August

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 571,600 shares, a drop of 17.6% from the July 31st total of 693,500 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 356,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,519.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,895.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total value of $2,745,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,519.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $675,183,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,072,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $761,760,000 after buying an additional 730,141 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 86.5% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 997,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,269,000 after acquiring an additional 462,828 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 27,120.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 425,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,881,000 after acquiring an additional 424,157 shares during the period. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $98,594,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 1.3 %

ESS opened at $301.79 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $282.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $261.01. Essex Property Trust has a 52 week low of $203.85 and a 52 week high of $302.05.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ESS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $250.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $276.70.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.