Employees Retirement System of Texas Grows Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 112.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,700 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $11,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth $7,027,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at about $541,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. The trade was a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 7.7 %

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $271.80 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $294.07. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.90 and a twelve month high of $317.73. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $17.48 billion, a PE ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ESS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.