Vident Advisory LLC Has $4.14 Million Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,518 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,682 shares during the quarter. Vident Advisory LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $4,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ESS. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 486.8% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. This represents a 61.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. Company insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $312.17.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $287.25 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $289.95. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.85 and a 12 month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

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.