Savant Capital LLC Makes New $230,000 Investment in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Savant Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,265 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 243.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 35,951 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,454,000 after purchasing an additional 25,488 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at about $881,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ESS. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $239.50 to $243.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $249.76.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.9 %

ESS opened at $257.67 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $241.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.79. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $203.85 and a fifty-two week high of $258.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 3.19.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 119.80%.

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.