ORG Wealth Partners LLC Sells 74 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

ORG Wealth Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in 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 valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,259 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 39.5% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 509 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock traded up $4.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $276.93. The stock had a trading volume of 349,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,805. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $294.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.36. The stock has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $223.06 and a 12 month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The business had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ESS. Raymond James cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho reduced 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 report on Monday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $305.17.

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.