Essex Property Trust, Inc. (ESS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.45 on January 15th

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of 2.45 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd.

Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. Essex Property Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 164.7% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Essex Property Trust to earn $16.01 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 61.2%.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $282.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of 33.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $297.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.69. Essex Property Trust has a 12 month low of $223.06 and a 12 month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). The business 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 in the previous year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. Bank of America lowered Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Raymond James lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price target on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $316.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $302.11.

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.