Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,967 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 1,502 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $3,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $471,258,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 35,500.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 448,205 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $137,406,000 after purchasing an additional 446,946 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,127,830 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $321,928,000 after purchasing an additional 404,892 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 64.0% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 570,786 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $162,925,000 after purchasing an additional 222,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 1,620.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 197,436 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $55,835,000 after purchasing an additional 185,958 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. 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 research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 price target (down previously from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $310.83.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.1%

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $283.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.85 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The company has a market capitalization of $18.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $279.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $286.89.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is presently 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.

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