3,398 Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Acquired by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,398 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,004,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 214.3% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 600.0% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 121.8% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 193 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated 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. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted 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. Bank of America downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS opened at $301.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $297.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $282.93. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $209.17 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The firm has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 114.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total value of $2,546,008.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,559.40. This trade represents a 45.98 % 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 7,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total value of $2,308,430.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,661.35. This trade represents a 73.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663 in the last quarter. Company 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.