New York State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 3,316 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 58,694 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $17,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 8.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $448,701,000 after purchasing an additional 147,130 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,145,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $311,824,000 after buying an additional 27,570 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.4% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,001,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $272,682,000 after buying an additional 3,977 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $256,280,000 after buying an additional 12,822 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 744,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $182,185,000 after acquiring an additional 23,673 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ESS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America cut Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.40.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total transaction of $2,308,430.38. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,661.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total transaction of $2,308,430.38. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $817,661.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,500. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 2.4 %

ESS opened at $276.97 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a P/E/G ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $204.64 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $297.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $279.30.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 114.49%.

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.