Vident Advisory LLC Has $4.14 Million Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 22.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,518 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,682 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $4,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 4,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Gen Wealth Partners Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $312.17.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of ESS opened at $287.25 on Wednesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $243.85 and a one year high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.89, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $284.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $289.95.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. Corporate insiders own 3.46% 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.