Employees Retirement System of Texas Has $11.70 Million Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 112.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 41,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,700 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $11,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $471,258,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,127,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $321,928,000 after purchasing an additional 404,892 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 570,786 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $162,925,000 after purchasing an additional 222,713 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1,620.1% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 197,436 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,835,000 after purchasing an additional 185,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 201.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 225,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,443,000 after buying an additional 150,927 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $370.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $329.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $311.78.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $269.80 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.37 billion, a PE ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $283.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $289.60.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $527,904. This represents a 61.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.46% 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.