ING Groep NV Sells 379 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

ING Groep NV reduced its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,208 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 379 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $2,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ESS. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,166 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 168.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $84,393,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 40.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,554 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho cut their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of ESS opened at $294.47 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.92. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $225.40 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $284.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.92%.

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.