Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group Sells 673 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group reduced its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 673 shares during the quarter. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $508,381,000 after purchasing an additional 25,591 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $426,532,000 after acquiring an additional 70,785 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $392,766,000 after acquiring an additional 183,947 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 772,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $220,612,000 after acquiring an additional 18,704 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $212,583,000 after acquiring an additional 633,200 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.9 %

ESS stock opened at $292.78 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $289.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $294.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $230.90 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The stock has a market cap of $18.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued 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 return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. Analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $1,988,843.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 18,545 shares of company stock worth $5,840,299 over the last ninety days. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company 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 raised their price objective for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.16.

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.