Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,242,310 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 17,217 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.93% of Essex Property Trust worth $380,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 486.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 223 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,027,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 12,956 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,698,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $209,000. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,334 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,522,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial upgraded Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target 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. Piper Sandler reissued 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.28.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.7%

ESS opened at $284.67 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's fifty day moving average is $283.15 and its 200-day moving average is $285.69. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $243.85 and a one year high of $317.73.

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

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is presently 98.37%.

About Essex Property Trust

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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