Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC Has $545,000 Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC raised its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 68.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,072,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $761,760,000 after buying an additional 730,141 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $675,183,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,832,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $448,701,000 after purchasing an additional 147,130 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 86.5% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 997,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,269,000 after purchasing an additional 462,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% during 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 in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $268.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $244.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $276.70.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS traded up $3.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $301.79. 399,985 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 375,418. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $282.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 3.19 and a current ratio of 1.62. The company has a market capitalization of $19.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.86. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $203.85 and a 1-year high of $302.05.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $442.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 9.14%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essex Property Trust news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total transaction of $1,051,860.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,641,895.38. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total transaction of $2,745,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,519.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total transaction of $1,051,860.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,641,895.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.