Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 309,641 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,423,513 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 309,641 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $420,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 8.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 147,130 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 27,570 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,977 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 valued at $256,280,000 after purchasing an additional 12,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in 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 valued at $182,185,000 after purchasing an additional 23,673 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $293.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.88 billion, a PE ratio of 34.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.07 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $297.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $280.77. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $204.64 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73.

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

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $730,627.59. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $730,627.59. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,559.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ESS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Truist Financial raised their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $293.40.

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.