Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Purchases Shares of 5,289 Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 5,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,562,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 214.3% in the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 600.0% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth $39,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ESS. Raymond James cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at $730,627.59. This trade represents a 52.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total transaction of $2,308,430.38. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,661.35. The trade was a 73.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,949 shares of company stock worth $5,663,763 in the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $297.70 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $297.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $223.06 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The business had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.49%.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.