Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Sold by Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 12.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,502 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $3,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,027,000. Yoffe Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $358,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 315.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,304 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 3,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,138,000 after buying an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on ESS shares. Mizuho dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $310.83.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $283.88 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $279.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.92 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 37.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.37%.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

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.