Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Acquired by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,591 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.69% of Essex Property Trust worth $508,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $392,766,000 after acquiring an additional 183,947 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.4% during the second 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 shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $256,280,000 after purchasing an additional 12,822 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 754,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $222,800,000 after buying an additional 47,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 741,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $201,715,000 after buying an additional 6,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ESS stock opened at $302.46 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $223.06 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $19.44 billion, a PE ratio of 35.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $297.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.22.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The business had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.78 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 114.49%.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,559.40. This represents a 45.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total value of $2,308,430.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $817,661.35. The trade was a 73.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,949 shares of company stock valued at $5,663,763 over the last quarter. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.