Wells Fargo & Company MN Trims Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Wells Fargo & Company MN decreased its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,142 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,750 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $14,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ESS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $471,258,000. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1,620.1% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 197,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,835,000 after purchasing an additional 185,958 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 201.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 225,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,443,000 after buying an additional 150,927 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth $36,450,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $426,532,000 after buying an additional 70,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ESS shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $307.11.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 3.5 %

ESS stock opened at $272.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $292.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $230.90 and a twelve month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.