Naviter Wealth LLC Has $1.25 Million Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Naviter Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,251,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ESS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS opened at $301.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $288.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.56. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In related news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $1,988,843.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,192.66. The trade was a 42.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,545 shares of company stock worth $5,840,299. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

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.