Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target Raised to $304.00 at Truist Financial

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price target upped by Truist Financial from $292.00 to $304.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ESS. Mizuho cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE ESS opened at $292.78 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $289.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $294.64. Essex Property Trust has a twelve month low of $230.90 and a twelve month high of $317.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $18.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.37, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. Research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 18,545 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,299 over the last ninety days. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $471,258,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $212,583,000 after acquiring an additional 633,200 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,127,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $321,928,000 after acquiring an additional 404,892 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 154.7% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,282,000 after acquiring an additional 269,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 570,786 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,925,000 after acquiring an additional 222,713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% 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.