Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Sells 1,380 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lowered its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 83.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 275 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,380 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $86,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESS. Barclays upped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho cut their target price 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. Truist Financial upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $295.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $289.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.66. The stock has a market cap of $19.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.90 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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 for the quarter, beating 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, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,545 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,299. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.