Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Bought by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 25.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 214.3% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 600.0% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on 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. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $265.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total value of $2,546,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,991,559.40. This represents a 45.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 7,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.31, for a total value of $2,308,430.38. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $817,661.35. This trade represents a 73.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,949 shares of company stock valued at $5,663,763. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $299.91 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $19.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.04, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $223.06 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $298.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.59.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). The company had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

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.