Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Buys 73 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 866 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ESS. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $1,988,843.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,192.66. This trade represents a 42.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $300.63 on Tuesday. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $290.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $294.60. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $230.90 and a one year high of $317.73. The company has a market capitalization of $19.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.08%.

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.