Short Interest in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Decreases By 6.9%

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 910,000 shares, a drop of 6.9% from the November 15th total of 977,700 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 365,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of ESS traded down $5.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $293.86. The stock had a trading volume of 233,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 370,814. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $223.06 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $298.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.40. The company has a market cap of $18.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.95, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NYSE:ESS) last announced 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 net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 4.7% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 3.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the second quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 8,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 7.4% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 781 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,636,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.11.

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.