Analysts Set Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) PT at $306.63

Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $307.16.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ESS shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS stock opened at $294.95 on Monday. The firm 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. 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 has a 12-month low of $230.90 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $289.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.59.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $527,904. This represents a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 162.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,109,000 after buying an additional 46,354 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake 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 valued at $5,611,000 after buying an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $541,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.