Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Acquires 9,287 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 36.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,432 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,287 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $9,828,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 41,161 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,749,000 after acquiring an additional 9,400 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 35,762 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,208,000 after acquiring an additional 3,944 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 607,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $173,475,000 after acquiring an additional 36,451 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $297,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 36,761 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ESS opened at $300.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $292.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $230.90 and a one year high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $19.30 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 approximately $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,904. The trade was a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.