National Pension Service Buys 20,334 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

National Pension Service boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 20.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,148 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,334 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.19% of Essex Property Trust worth $35,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 27,120.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 425,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $115,881,000 after buying an additional 424,157 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the second quarter worth $98,594,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at $84,393,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $448,701,000 after buying an additional 147,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 553,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,348,000 after buying an additional 140,294 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ESS shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.40.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE ESS opened at $293.76 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $18.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.32, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.88. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $204.64 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $297.44 and a 200-day moving average of $280.77.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $775,500. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,500. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 8,080 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,559.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663. Company 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.