Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.45

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 15th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of 2.45 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, July 24th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%.

Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 30 years. Essex Property Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 169.8% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Essex Property Trust to earn $15.62 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.7%.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 1.1 %

ESS traded up $2.87 on Wednesday, reaching $267.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 407,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,484. The company has a quick ratio of 3.19, a current ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $243.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $235.36. The company has a market capitalization of $17.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.79. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $203.85 and a fifty-two week high of $269.23.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ESS. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $237.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "sell" rating and set a $227.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $291.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $239.50 to $243.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $252.83.

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.