Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.57

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 2.57 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a 4.9% increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45.

Essex Property Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 31 years. Essex Property Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 171.0% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Essex Property Trust to earn $16.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $10.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.0%.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $305.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.50, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $294.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $294.80. Essex Property Trust has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. As a group, analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In related news, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 8,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,192.66. This represents a 42.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $842,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. The trade was a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.16.

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.