Gen Wealth Partners Inc Buys 45 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Gen Wealth Partners Inc raised its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 54,681 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,608,000 after purchasing an additional 18,251 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $289,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 37,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,703,000 after buying an additional 9,163 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 5,572 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after buying an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 190.3% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 16,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,510 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In related news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 over the last three months. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ESS opened at $282.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $286.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $290.42. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.85 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The company has a market capitalization of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 24.49, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. 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 (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.05. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. The company had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $2.57 dividend. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ESS. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $308.11.

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.