Captrust Financial Advisors Purchases 168 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,629 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 4,624 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,320,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,126 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,178,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $2,298,870.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,077,170. This represents a 31.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE:ESS opened at $288.59 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $284.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $289.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

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

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 98.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ESS. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $312.17.

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.