Bleakley Financial Group LLC Sells 84 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,261 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $781,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 88,915 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter valued at $475,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 53,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,530,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ESS. Raymond James upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on 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. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $291.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on 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, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Essex Property Trust from $225.00 to $223.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $245.37.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE:ESS opened at $235.57 on Tuesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $203.85 and a fifty-two week high of $252.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.26. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $237.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.32.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $2.45 dividend. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 155.31%.

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.