ORG Wealth Partners LLC Sells 74 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

ORG Wealth Partners LLC cut its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 162.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,109,000 after acquiring an additional 46,354 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $541,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 92.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 2,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 237.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $681,000 after acquiring an additional 1,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 54.2% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 8,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ESS traded up $4.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $276.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 349,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,805. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.35, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $294.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $291.36. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $223.06 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The firm had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. Research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ESS. Raymond James downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America lowered Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $305.17.

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.