Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS Shares Acquired by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1,204.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 149,247 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 137,810 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $36,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 25.2% during the first quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 2,780 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at $38,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 995,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $240,989,000 after purchasing an additional 57,173 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 3.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,759 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $668,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth $7,263,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.45, for a total transaction of $167,670.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $669,003.30. This trade represents a 20.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $277.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $290.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $299.08.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 1.0%

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $290.67 on Tuesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $238.46 and a fifty-two week high of $303.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.66, a PEG ratio of 12.65 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.27.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by ($2.31). The firm had revenue of $484.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $479.89 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 30.03%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.97 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $2.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $10.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 116.40%.

About Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: ESS) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on market-rate apartment communities and delivers a full suite of property services including leasing, resident services, asset management, and capital improvement programs designed to preserve and enhance long?term property values.

Essex concentrates its portfolio in West Coast markets, with a significant presence in California and the Pacific Northwest.