Diversify Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 25.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,947 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 3,419 shares during the quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $5,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at $653,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of 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 worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth about $705,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,027,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $355.00 price objective (down previously from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.28.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE ESS traded down $0.22 on Friday, hitting $286.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 528,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 425,855. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $243.85 and a 52-week high of $317.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $283.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.71. The firm has a market cap of $18.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 37.08%. The business had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.83 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.37%.

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.