Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Stake Increased by Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC.

Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,615,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ESS. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 162.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,109,000 after acquiring an additional 46,354 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,611,000 after acquiring an additional 986 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $541,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 15,527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,408,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ESS. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $298.37 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $225.40 and a 12-month high of $317.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $284.89 and a 200 day moving average of $293.29. The company has a market cap of $19.18 billion, a PE ratio of 25.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.92.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 89.08%.

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.