17,200 Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Purchased by Zimmer Partners LP

Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 17,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $5,081,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $392,766,000 after purchasing an additional 183,947 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,001,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $272,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.4% in the 2nd 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 754,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $222,800,000 after purchasing an additional 47,114 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 741,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $201,715,000 after purchasing an additional 6,216 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $299.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.04, a PEG ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $297.21 and a 200-day moving average of $287.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $222.30 and a 52 week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.78 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,661.35. The trade was a 73.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $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 90 days, insiders have sold 17,949 shares of company stock valued at $5,663,763. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

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.