Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Receives $293.40 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $293.40.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $292.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $295.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $274.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market cap of $18.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.77, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.88. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $203.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by ($2.40). The firm had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 9.14%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.77 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 119.80%.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,991,559.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $817,661.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total value of $2,546,008.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,559.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 8.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $448,701,000 after buying an additional 147,130 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 2.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,145,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $311,824,000 after buying an additional 27,570 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 0.4% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,001,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $272,682,000 after buying an additional 3,977 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $256,280,000 after purchasing an additional 12,822 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 744,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $182,185,000 after purchasing an additional 23,673 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.