BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Stock Price

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) had its price objective raised by BMO Capital Markets from $315.00 to $317.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

ESS has been the topic of a number of other reports. 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 research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Truist Financial increased 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. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $312.17.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE ESS traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $283.85. 820,599 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,463. The company's fifty day moving average is $280.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $288.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $243.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The stock has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company posted $3.83 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is presently 98.37%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 4,624 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 4.6% in the first quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 985 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 929 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gen Wealth Partners Inc raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.