Voloridge Investment Management LLC Raises Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,591 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 4,336 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Essex Property Trust worth $19,579,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.3% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter worth $7,027,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 28,367 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,097,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ESS shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $311.78.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE ESS traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $276.09. 169,658 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 406,418. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $281.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.85 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The stock has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $458.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.83 earnings per share. 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is 98.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This represents a 61.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 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 sale, the director now owns 16,118 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.