3,927 Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Acquired by Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $743,000. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,299,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 162.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,109,000 after purchasing an additional 46,354 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 237.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 54.2% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 8,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after purchasing an additional 3,018 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,500. This represents a 48.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,627.59. This represents a 52.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663 over the last ninety days. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.0 %

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $312.86 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $286.47. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $210.36 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The company has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America cut Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.00.

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.