Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 3,303 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board decreased its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 50.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,303 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $976,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 29.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 147.9% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,164 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 225,045 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,093,000 after purchasing an additional 18,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Long Pond Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $8,385,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:ESS opened at $300.59 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $210.36 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $284.68.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.78 earnings per share. 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid 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 3.26%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESS shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,500. This trade represents a 48.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,991,559.40. The trade was a 45.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.