Wealthquest Corp Acquires New Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Key Points

• Wealthquest Corp has acquired 1,254,544 shares of Essex Property Trust, representing a total investment of approximately $384.6 million, making it the largest position in their portfolio.
• Essex Property Trust recently announced a $2.57 quarterly dividend, with an annualized yield of 3.82% and a payout ratio of 98.37%.
• Analysts have varying outlooks on the stock, with ratings ranging from "sell" to "outperform" and an average price target of $313.03.

Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,254,544 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $384,606,000. Essex Property Trust makes up about 17.2% of Wealthquest Corp's holdings, making the stock its largest position. Wealthquest Corp owned about 1.95% of Essex Property Trust as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 32,382 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $9,243,000 after buying an additional 3,537 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 187,391 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $53,489,000 after buying an additional 2,732 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 9,214 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,630,000 after purchasing an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,710 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $18,756,000 after purchasing an additional 17,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,758,174 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $500,688,000 after purchasing an additional 32,102 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ESS. Wall Street Zen lowered Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 price objective (down previously from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $312.92.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE ESS traded down $3.62 on Friday, reaching $256.56. The stock had a trading volume of 830,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 522,891. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.09. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $243.85 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The business's 50-day moving average price is $283.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $285.89. The stock has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 0.80.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 43.51%. The business had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $466.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.64%.

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.