Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Acquired by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,092 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 1,321 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $3,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ESS. Assetmark Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,027,000. Yoffe Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $358,000. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at about $1,723,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 51,743 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $14,770,000 after purchasing an additional 12,191 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ESS. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Barclays lifted 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. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $355.00 target price (down previously from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, 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 on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $310.28.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS traded up $1.50 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $284.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 677,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 421,974. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.78. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $282.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.83. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.85 and a twelve month 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 37.08% and a return on equity of 11.81%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

Essex Property Trust 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.