Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 56,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 10,889 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Essex Property Trust worth $15,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.7% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.4% during the second quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 10.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 591 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 11,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 7.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ESS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $244.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $288.30.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $314.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.62. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $203.85 and a 1 year high of $314.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $288.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $265.64. The stock has a market cap of $20.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 9.14%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 119.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total transaction of $1,051,860.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,641,895.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total value of $1,051,860.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,895.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,500. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

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.