Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,469 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $3,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 4.7% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,041,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $432,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ESS. Barclays cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $316.00 to $302.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James cut Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.32.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $277.43 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $290.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.10. The stock has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.92. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $223.06 and a 12-month 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.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Essex Property Trust 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.