Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Short Interest Down 15.7% in May

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, a decline of 15.7% from the April 30th total of 1,850,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 466,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of ESS traded down $4.53 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $278.23. The stock had a trading volume of 676,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 477,277. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $279.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.48. Essex Property Trust has a twelve month low of $243.85 and a twelve month high of $317.73. The firm has a market cap of $17.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

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

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.37%.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the company'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 sale, the director now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. This represents a 61.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $471,258,000. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth about $384,606,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 66.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,746,242 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $841,916,000 after buying an additional 1,096,619 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 35,500.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 448,205 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $137,406,000 after acquiring an additional 446,946 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,127,830 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $321,928,000 after acquiring an additional 404,892 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESS shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price target 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. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $312.17.

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.