Bank of America Corp DE Lowers Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Bank of America Corp DE decreased its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 62.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,404 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 306,681 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $51,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,353,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,955,205,000 after purchasing an additional 61,645 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,758,174 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $500,688,000 after buying an additional 32,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $471,258,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 70,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 56.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,127,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $321,928,000 after acquiring an additional 404,892 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $280.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $285.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.14. The company has a market capitalization of $18.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.83 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This represents a 61.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $308.89.

About Essex Property Trust

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.