Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 54,127 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 445,896 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 54,127 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.69% of Essex Property Trust worth $127,276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

ESS opened at $311.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.92. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $226.84 and a 52-week high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $286.44 and its 200-day moving average is $293.76.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. 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. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.08%.

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.