First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 10,776 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 46.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 10,776 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $3,593,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 104.5% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.32.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.1 %

ESS opened at $277.43 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $223.06 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $290.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.99. The company has a market capitalization of $17.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.92.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 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.