XTX Topco Ltd Purchases 5,463 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

XTX Topco Ltd increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 220.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,945 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,463 shares during the quarter. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $2,268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ESS. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 3,024 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 154,194 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,087 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,074 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,082,000 after buying an additional 737 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 92.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 2,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.11.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE ESS opened at $263.17 on Monday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $293.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $292.18. The stock has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.81, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. 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%.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.