Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,614,782 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,667,195,000 after buying an additional 184,047 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,712,755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,419,056,000 after buying an additional 874,625 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $476,588,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,473,346 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $307,504,000 after buying an additional 29,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,137,193 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $237,835,000 after buying an additional 68,857 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS stock opened at $232.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.26. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $203.85 and a 52 week high of $252.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $237.20 and its 200 day moving average is $230.48. The firm has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.80.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 155.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $227.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $259.00 to $255.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $237.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $245.37.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.