Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Director Mary Kasaris Sells 2,800 Shares

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $294.95 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. The company has a market cap of $18.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $289.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.60.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.16.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,353,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,955,205,000 after acquiring an additional 61,645 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,758,174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $500,688,000 after purchasing an additional 32,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $471,258,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $426,532,000 after purchasing an additional 70,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $392,766,000 after purchasing an additional 183,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.