Atria Investments Inc Sells 567 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Atria Investments Inc lessened its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 16.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,986 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 567 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at about $201,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 2,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 22,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,580,000 after acquiring an additional 3,799 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 29.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 3.7% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,559.40. The trade was a 45.98 % 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 Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,500. This represents a 48.69 % 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 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:ESS opened at $301.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $209.17 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $283.83. The company has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a PE ratio of 35.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 114.49%.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.