Kinloch Capital LLC Acquires 351 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Kinloch Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,484 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Essex Property Trust accounts for approximately 2.2% of Kinloch Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Kinloch Capital LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $4,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,611,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $7,027,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 28,367 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,097,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $312.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,904. This represents a 61.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 in the last three months. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.8%

ESS stock opened at $286.31 on Tuesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $243.85 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $18.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $284.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.97.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 98.37%.

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.