Wellington Management Group LLP Trims Stock Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 612,104 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 30,852 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $174,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ESS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,353,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,955,205,000 after buying an additional 61,645 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $508,381,000 after acquiring an additional 25,591 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $471,258,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 70,785 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 772,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $220,612,000 after purchasing an additional 18,704 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE ESS opened at $307.54 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $295.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $19.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.65, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $230.90 and a one year high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. Research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.08%.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.