Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Raises Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,761 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,427 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.06% of Essex Property Trust worth $10,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $212,583,000 after acquiring an additional 633,200 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 154.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $131,282,000 after purchasing an additional 269,923 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 225,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,443,000 after purchasing an additional 150,927 shares during the period. Waterfront Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $24,823,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $426,532,000 after buying an additional 70,785 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In related news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $300.06 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $230.90 and a 52-week high of $317.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $292.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $294.60. The company has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.08%.

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.