Deutsche Bank AG Acquires 196,519 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 46.0% during the 1st quarter, owning 624,031 shares valued at approximately $191.3 million.
• Notable institutional investors, including Wealthquest Corp and GAMMA Investing LLC, have also significantly increased their holdings in Essex Property Trust during the first quarter, indicating strong interest in the stock.
• Essex Property Trust recently declared a quarterly dividend of $2.57, representing an annualized dividend yield of 4.0% and a payout ratio of 82.64%.

Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 46.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 624,031 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 196,519 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.97% of Essex Property Trust worth $191,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at $244,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 778,148 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $238,557,000 after buying an additional 5,265 shares in the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at $682,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,440,274 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,200,675,000 after buying an additional 87,117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at $204,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ESS shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Truist Financial set a $283.00 target price on Essex Property Trust and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lowered their target price on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Essex Property Trust from $335.00 to $298.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $303.91.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS traded up $1.90 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $253.98. 382,660 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 494,213. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $243.85 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 0.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $280.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $284.83.

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

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend 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 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.