Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target Raised to $344.00 at Scotiabank

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price objective upped by Scotiabank from $329.00 to $344.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on ESS. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust 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 price target for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial lifted 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $312.17.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $278.07 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $243.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

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

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 98.37%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. This represents a 61.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 154,194 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,550,000 after buying an additional 15,087 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,423 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,193,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,935 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,978,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the period. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.