Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) PT Raised to $282.00

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price objective lifted by Truist Financial from $255.00 to $282.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on ESS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $232.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $244.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James raised Essex Property Trust from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com raised Essex Property Trust from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised Essex Property Trust from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $250.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $258.63.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $272.92 on Monday. Essex Property Trust has a 12-month low of $203.85 and a 12-month high of $284.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $260.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $246.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 3.19.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 119.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total value of $1,051,860.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,895.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total value of $1,051,860.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,895.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total value of $2,745,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,519.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ESS. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.2% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,779,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 16.2% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 1.7% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 28,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,034,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 30.2% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $173,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 6.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 978,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $207,560,000 after buying an additional 55,903 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.