GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Invests $333,000 in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,167 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GTS Securities LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 86.2% in the 4th quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 3,407 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Kinloch Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Kinloch Capital LLC now owns 15,484 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 778,514 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $222,219,000 after purchasing an additional 58,918 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 68,591 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $19,579,000 after purchasing an additional 4,336 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 11,398 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 target price (down from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $312.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,077,170. The trade was a 31.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.46% of the company's stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.0%

NYSE ESS traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $282.16. The company had a trading volume of 160,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 407,342. The firm's 50 day moving average is $280.96 and its 200 day moving average is $289.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $464.58 million during 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 in the prior year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. 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.