575 Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Acquired by Headlands Technologies LLC

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 575 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $164,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,758,174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $500,688,000 after purchasing an additional 32,102 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,756,000 after buying an additional 17,510 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 9,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,630,000 after buying an additional 1,636 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 187,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $53,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1,620.1% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 197,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,835,000 after acquiring an additional 185,958 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 7.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $271.80 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $296.16 and its 200 day moving average is $294.20. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.90 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The stock has a market cap of $17.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.08%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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. Insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

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.