Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Purchases 46 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $4,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,259 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America cut Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $316.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $305.42.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $283.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.08, a P/E/G ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $294.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.63. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $223.06 and a 52-week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS 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 business had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 114.49%.

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.