Piper Sandler Cuts Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target to $355.00

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price target decreased by Piper Sandler from $370.00 to $355.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $311.78.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $269.80 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $283.01 and a 200 day moving average of $289.60. Essex Property Trust has a 52 week low of $243.85 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $1,988,843.22. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,192.66. The trade was a 42.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.