Legal & General Group Plc Trims Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 915,885 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 144,675 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.43% of Essex Property Trust worth $261,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.3% during 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 stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,027,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $4,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 3.0 %

NYSE ESS opened at $254.52 on Wednesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.90 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $294.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $293.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. As a group, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 89.08%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This 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 accessible through this link. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of Essex Property Trust 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 owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. Insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.16.

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.