Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Shares Break Above 50 Day Moving Average on Analyst Downgrade

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) shares crossed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday after Weiss Ratings upgraded the stock from a hold (c) rating to a hold (c+) rating. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $272.36 and traded as high as $277.48. Essex Property Trust shares last traded at $275.5590, with a volume of 454,903 shares trading hands.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Essex Property Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Citizens Jmp upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $297.73.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $449,000. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 67.4% in the 3rd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $532,000 after buying an additional 795 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Optas LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 7.1% in the third quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 15.5% in the third quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 54,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,708,000 after acquiring an additional 7,340 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.2%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $17.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.12, a P/E/G ratio of 9.60 and a beta of 0.69.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.01 by ($2.49). The company had revenue of $492.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $491.01 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 6.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 192.21%.

About Essex Property Trust