Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.7%, acquiring an additional 5,265 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 778,148 shares valued at $238,557,000.
• Essex Property Trust recently announced a quarterly dividend of $2.57 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $10.28 and a dividend yield of 4.0%.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $4.03 for the last quarter, surpassing analyst estimates of $3.99, while revenue was slightly below predictions at $465.84 million.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 778,148 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 5,265 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.21% of Essex Property Trust worth $238,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the first quarter worth approximately $653,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 10.0% in the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 883 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $705,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 133,886 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $41,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter worth $569,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank set a $309.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Truist Financial set a $283.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $285.00 to $279.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $303.91.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:ESS traded up $1.90 on Tuesday, reaching $253.98. 382,660 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 629,259. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $284.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.85 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The firm has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a P/E/G ratio of 6.48 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $465.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $466.47 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 13.98%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio 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.