Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Purchased by Naviter Wealth LLC

Naviter Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 47.6% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 11,217 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,379,000 after acquiring an additional 3,618 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 35,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,494,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 173.9% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 135,008 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,634,000 after buying an additional 85,725 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 4.0% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on ESS shares. Raymond James upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $255.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $225.00 to $223.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $246.16.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $248.02 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $203.85 and a fifty-two week high of $252.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $239.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $232.16. The firm has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a PE ratio of 39.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.80.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 155.31%.

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.