Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS – Free Report) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,943 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $12,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 632.8% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,719,000 after purchasing an additional 12,954 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 201.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 534,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $132,639,000 after buying an additional 357,268 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $3,304,000. JLP Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $2,802,000. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,074,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $239.50 to $243.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $275.00 in a report on Monday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $227.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $249.76.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on ESS
Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.2 %
ESS stock opened at $258.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.63 billion, a PE ratio of 31.66, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 3.19 and a current ratio of 3.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $243.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.28. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $203.85 and a one year high of $260.52.
Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a $2.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 119.80%.
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.
See Also
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