Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Stock Rating Lowered by Raymond James

Raymond James lowered shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.40.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $299.96 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $277.09. Essex Property Trust has a 12-month low of $203.85 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.85 by ($2.40). The firm had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 30.31%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 119.80%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Essex Property Trust news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,627.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663 over the last ninety days. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 214.3% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 600.0% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 121.8% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 193 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at about $66,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.