QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,130 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $653,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 4,624 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 1,952 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,126 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,178,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 365 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,871 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 price target (down from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted 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 report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $310.28.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS traded down $3.80 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $282.23. 666,167 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 419,218. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $281.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $286.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.85 and a twelve month high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01, a PEG ratio of 5.97 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 37.08%. The company had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.83 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is currently 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.