Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 5,609 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 24.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,609 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $4,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,462 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $384,606,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 17,867 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,467,000 after purchasing an additional 2,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 238,859 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,227,000 after purchasing an additional 4,964 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 2.3%

ESS opened at $256.39 on Wednesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $243.85 and a 1-year high of $316.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $264.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $273.42.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The firm had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.94 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 82.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.09.

Essex Property Trust 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.