Invesco Ltd. Has $209.29 Million Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 20.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 733,204 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 123,698 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $209,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 3.6% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 30,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,933,000 after buying an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 3,024 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $893,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 154,194 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $45,550,000 after buying an additional 15,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 1.5% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 25,591 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total value of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,904. The trade was a 61.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 in the last ninety days. 3.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $263.17 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $230.90 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $293.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $292.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $16.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. Equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. 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. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 89.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ESS shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.11.

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.