Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Takes $7.96 Million Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired 25,976 shares of Essex Property Trust, valued at approximately $7.96 million, during the first quarter.
• Essex Property Trust reported earnings of $3.97 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a total revenue of $464.58 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $2.57, representing an annualized yield of 3.57%, with a payout ratio of 98.37%.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 25,976 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $7,963,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 85.2% during the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 365 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 52.9% during the 1st quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ESS. Barclays upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 price objective (down previously from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. 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 research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $310.94.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Essex Property Trust stock traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $287.15. The company had a trading volume of 310,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 381,874. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $283.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.16. The company has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.48, a P/E/G ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.78. 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 current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 37.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.83 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.