Essex Property Trust, Inc. (ESS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.57 on April 15th

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 2.57 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a 4.9% increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45.

Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 31 years. Essex Property Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 171.0% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Essex Property Trust to earn $16.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $10.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.0%.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $305.79 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $294.51 and its 200 day moving average is $294.80. The stock has a market cap of $19.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust has a 52-week low of $230.90 and a 52-week 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.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. Sell-side analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.16.

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.