Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Research Coverage Started at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $318.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ESS. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $268.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Raymond James increased their target price 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $250.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $281.25.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 1.2 %

ESS opened at $298.25 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $284.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $262.95. The company has a market capitalization of $19.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.46, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.88. Essex Property Trust has a 52 week low of $203.85 and a 52 week high of $307.75.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted 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 return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 30.31%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.77 EPS. Analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 119.80%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total value of $1,051,860.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,895.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total value of $2,745,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,519.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total value of $1,051,860.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,895.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,233 shares of company stock valued at $4,533,461. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 3.7% in the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. M&R Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Quilter Plc increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 8,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,368,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 591 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 11,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,765,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.