Power Corp of Canada Purchases Shares of 1,500 Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Power Corp of Canada purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,735,177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,600,381,000 after acquiring an additional 83,030 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.1% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,818,919 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,651,748,000 after acquiring an additional 390,858 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,517,541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,348,129,000 after acquiring an additional 314,259 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,104,124 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $381,453,000 after acquiring an additional 37,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.9% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 985,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $257,640,000 after acquiring an additional 55,103 shares during the last quarter. 91.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $226.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 7th. Mizuho increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $235.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 9th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $256.15.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:ESS opened at $216.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.99 billion, a PE ratio of 34.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $205.24 and a 52-week high of $363.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.81.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.31 per share. This represents a $9.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.20. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 147.13%.

About Essex Property Trust

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Essex Property Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the ownership, operation, management, acquisition, development, and redevelopment of predominantly apartment communities. The company was founded by George M. Marcus in 1971 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA.