Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target Cut to $303.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its target price reduced by Barclays from $304.00 to $303.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

ESS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.11.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $263.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The stock has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50 day moving average is $293.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.19.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 89.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. This represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. 3.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,334,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,611,000 after acquiring an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,027,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.