Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Receives $307.11 Average Price Target from Analysts

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Hold" from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $306.79.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $303.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Insider Activity

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $527,904. This represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS stock traded up $8.38 on Tuesday, reaching $292.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 413,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 399,797. The company has a market capitalization of $18.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $288.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $2.57 per share. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.08%.

About Essex Property Trust

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.