Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Has $1.03 Million Stock Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 4.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $448,701,000 after acquiring an additional 147,130 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,145,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $311,824,000 after purchasing an additional 27,570 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,001,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $272,682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $256,280,000 after buying an additional 12,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 744,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $182,185,000 after buying an additional 23,673 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE ESS opened at $307.28 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $297.48 and its 200-day moving average is $282.62. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $209.17 and a one year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $19.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.90, a P/E/G ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,627.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Essex Property Trust news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $809,325.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,627.59. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $775,500. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663 in the last 90 days. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ESS shares. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $288.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.00.

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.