Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 170 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 8.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,901 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 170 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 36.9% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,776,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 8,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,537,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 4.2% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,045 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 18.0% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $302.54 on Tuesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $209.17 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The business has a 50 day moving average of $297.73 and a 200-day moving average of $284.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $19.44 billion, a PE ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $775,500. This represents a 48.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,627.59. This represents a 52.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.