OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Acquires 10,801 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 56.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,022 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 10,801 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $9,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $653,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 883 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $705,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,027,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 133,886 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $41,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,569 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised 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 research note on Friday, May 9th. 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 for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 target price (down from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.94.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

ESS stock traded up $3.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $284.01. 101,059 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 424,779. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $283.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $285.65. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $18.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $243.85 and a 1-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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $458.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Essex Property Trust's dividend 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.