Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Given New $344.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price objective increased by Scotiabank from $329.00 to $344.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on ESS. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted 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 report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $308.89.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $286.36 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market cap of $18.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.21. Essex Property Trust has a 12 month low of $243.85 and a 12 month high of $317.73.

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

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.37%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

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 shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $1,988,843.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,654 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,192.66. This trade represents a 42.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,440,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,200,675,000 after acquiring an additional 87,117 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 worth $500,688,000 after acquiring an additional 32,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $471,258,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $384,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.