Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Position Raised by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,334 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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 cut their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of ESS opened at $298.84 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $230.90 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $290.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $294.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its 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 return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. Analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.44%. 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 payout ratio is 89.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 in the last 90 days. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.