Essex Property Trust, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $2.45 (NYSE:ESS)

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 5th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of 2.45 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th.

Essex Property Trust has raised its dividend by an average of 3.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 30 years. Essex Property Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 163.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Essex Property Trust to earn $16.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $9.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.1%.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $294.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $293.96 and its 200-day moving average is $270.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Essex Property Trust has a 12 month low of $203.85 and a 12 month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.85 by ($2.40). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 9.14%. The company had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.77 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $775,500. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total value of $2,308,430.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,661.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $775,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. BNP Paribas started coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.40.

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.