KBC Group NV Purchases 46,354 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

KBC Group NV lifted its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 162.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 46,354 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.12% of Essex Property Trust worth $22,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 4.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 237,217 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,079,000 after purchasing an additional 9,743 shares during the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 163.0% in the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 20,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,030,000 after buying an additional 12,650 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,004,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $721,000. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 14.4% during the third quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Raymond James lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE ESS opened at $301.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $297.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $282.93. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $209.17 and a one year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.25, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Insider Activity

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

Essex Property Trust 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.