Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,533 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 114 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,334,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,611,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth about $541,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $300.06 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $292.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.90 and a 52 week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase 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 payout ratio is currently 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,904. The trade was a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

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.