SG Americas Securities LLC Cuts Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 85.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,123 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 23,737 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $426,532,000 after purchasing an additional 70,785 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 505.0% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 363 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,824 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,804,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on ESS shares. Piper Sandler reissued 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. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $310.83.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS stock opened at $284.88 on Tuesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $18.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $279.54 and a 200 day moving average of $286.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.05. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS 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 issued a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ESS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.