LPL Financial LLC Buys 3,537 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,537 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $9,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fox Run Management L.L.C. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 3,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $858,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,654,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 368,855 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $105,286,000 after acquiring an additional 43,847 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 6,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,927 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $948,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s 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 sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $271.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $17.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $296.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $294.32. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $230.90 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73.

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

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.08%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $307.16.

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.