Royal Bank of Canada Raises Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 175,435 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 23,842 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.27% of Essex Property Trust worth $50,076,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,656 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,611,000 after acquiring an additional 986 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,027,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,527 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,516 shares during the period. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 28,367 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,097,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $355.00 price objective (down from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $311.78.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.9%

Essex Property Trust stock traded up $2.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $271.80. 36,216 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 405,933. The business's 50 day moving average is $282.42 and its 200 day moving average is $289.35. 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 $17.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. The business had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. 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 will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,303,393.38. This represents a 26.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. Insiders own 3.46% of the company's stock.

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.