Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 772,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,704 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $220,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given 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 an average target price of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of ESS opened at $301.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $288.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.40.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. Equities analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 89.08%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,545 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,299. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by 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.