Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 4,849 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,849 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 0.05% of Essex Property Trust worth $9,872,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.3% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth $7,027,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,408,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 28,367 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,097,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $312.17.

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 dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. Corporate insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $287.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.85 and a twelve month high of $317.73. The company’s 50 day moving average is $284.47 and its 200 day moving average is $289.95. 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 (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.05. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. The firm had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current 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 issued a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

About Essex Property Trust

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.