3,322 Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Bought by Summit Global Investments

Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $948,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 34,432 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,828,000 after acquiring an additional 9,287 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 41,161 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,749,000 after acquiring an additional 9,400 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 35,762 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,208,000 after acquiring an additional 3,944 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 607,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $173,475,000 after acquiring an additional 36,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth $297,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This represents a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE ESS opened at $300.06 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $292.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $19.30 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

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.