Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Lowered to Market Perform at Raymond James

Raymond James lowered shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.40.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $291.36 on Monday. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $203.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.62. The company has a market capitalization of $18.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.62, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $296.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $276.54.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.85 by ($2.40). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 30.31%. The business had revenue of $442.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $433.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.77 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.80%.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $775,500. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $735,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares in the company, valued at $775,500. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total transaction of $2,308,430.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,661.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,402 shares of company stock worth $6,399,663 over the last ninety days. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

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

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.