Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 505.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 363 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 1,247.2% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,166 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 6.5% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 168.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 151.8% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $316.00 to $302.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho reduced their price objective 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. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $306.53.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ESS stock opened at $290.59 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $285.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $292.75. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $225.40 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 6.93 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

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

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.92%.

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.