Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Stake Lessened by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 0.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 186 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $10,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,353,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,955,205,000 after buying an additional 61,645 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.9% in 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 buying an additional 32,102 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth $471,258,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in 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 buying an additional 70,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $321,928,000 after buying an additional 404,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on ESS shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 target price (down previously from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $312.17.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $287.75 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $277.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $287.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $243.85 and a 52-week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.37%.

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.