Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Acquired by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,334 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.05% of Essex Property Trust worth $10,143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $448,701,000 after buying an additional 147,130 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,145,569 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $311,824,000 after acquiring an additional 27,570 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,001,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $272,682,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 941,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $256,280,000 after purchasing an additional 12,822 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 744,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $182,185,000 after purchasing an additional 23,673 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE:ESS opened at $304.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $210.36 and a one year high of $317.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $297.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $284.82. The stock has a market cap of $19.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a PEG ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The company had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.78 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $809,325.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $730,627.59. This represents a 52.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,500. This represents a 48.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESS has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.00.

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.