Ridgewood Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 112.3% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Vima LLC bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 193 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total transaction of $1,051,860.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,895.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total transaction of $1,051,860.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,641,895.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS traded up $1.96 during trading on Thursday, reaching $298.05. 320,310 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 375,271. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 3.19 and a current ratio of 1.62. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $203.85 and a 12-month high of $299.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $259.77. The company has a market cap of $19.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.44, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.86.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.26 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.53 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $244.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $276.70.

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.