Ieq Capital LLC Purchases 705 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 20.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $298.37 on Tuesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $225.40 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $284.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $293.29. 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 stock has a market cap of $19.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.86, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.92.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released 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 expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $306.63.

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.