Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Buys 162 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,643 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $3,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth $476,588,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 15.0% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 874,625 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 213.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 888,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $188,367,000 after purchasing an additional 604,863 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5,069.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 208,651 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,253,000 after purchasing an additional 204,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.8% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 184,047 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:ESS opened at $232.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 3.26 and a quick ratio of 3.26. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $203.85 and a 1 year high of $252.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.47. The company has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.87, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.80.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a $2.45 dividend. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 155.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Essex Property Trust from $259.00 to $255.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $227.00 price target on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com cut Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $281.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $245.37.

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.