Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Rating Lowered to Market Perform at Raymond James

Raymond James downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.40.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.7 %

ESS stock opened at $301.93 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $297.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $277.09. The company has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.88. Essex Property Trust has a 12-month low of $203.85 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.85 by ($2.40). The company had revenue of $442.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 30.31%. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 119.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,500. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total value of $2,308,430.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $817,661.35. This represents a 0.00 % 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 Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $775,500. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 86.5% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 997,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,269,000 after acquiring an additional 462,828 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 27,120.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 425,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $115,881,000 after purchasing an additional 424,157 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $98,594,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $84,393,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 8.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $448,701,000 after acquiring an additional 147,130 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.