Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 353 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 353 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $7,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 3.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $316.00 to $302.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.32.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $277.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a PE ratio of 32.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $291.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $291.96. 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 52-week low of $223.06 and a 52-week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

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.