Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 2,226 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,226 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned about 0.18% of Essex Property Trust worth $32,654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,353,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,955,205,000 after buying an additional 61,645 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,758,174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $500,688,000 after acquiring an additional 32,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $471,258,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 70,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,127,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $321,928,000 after purchasing an additional 404,892 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In related news, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 8,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,192.66. This represents a 42.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on 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 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 valued at $6,682,539. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ESS. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on 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. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $311.78.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $269.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.37 billion, a PE ratio of 23.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $283.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $289.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

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.