Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the second quarter worth about $743,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter worth about $4,299,000. KBC Group NV increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 162.7% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,109,000 after buying an additional 46,354 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 237.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $681,000 after buying an additional 1,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 54.2% in the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 8,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,537,000 after buying an additional 3,018 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In related news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at $730,627.59. The trade was a 52.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the company’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 owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,500. This represents a 48.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663 in the last quarter. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on ESS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Raymond James cut Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America cut Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $312.86 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $297.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $286.47. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $210.36 and a one year high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

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.