Essex Property Trust, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.45 (NYSE:ESS)

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 5th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 2.45 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th.

Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 3.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 30 years. Essex Property Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 163.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Essex Property Trust to earn $16.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.1%.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of ESS stock opened at $294.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.02, a PEG ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.88. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $203.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by ($2.40). The company had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.77 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America lowered Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,500. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total transaction of $2,308,430.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,661.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of Essex Property Trust 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663. 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.