Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $508,381,000 after purchasing an additional 25,591 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $392,766,000 after purchasing an additional 183,947 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 754,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $222,800,000 after purchasing an additional 47,114 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $212,583,000 after purchasing an additional 633,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,282,000 after purchasing an additional 269,923 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of ESS opened at $290.80 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $286.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $18.69 billion, a PE ratio of 25.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.93 and a beta of 0.92. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $223.06 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ESS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday. Raymond James lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $306.53.

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.