KBC Group NV Buys 150,927 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

KBC Group NV raised its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 201.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 225,768 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 150,927 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $64,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 104.5% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $89,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.32.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE ESS opened at $277.43 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $290.92 and its 200-day moving average is $292.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $223.06 and a one year high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. The company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.78 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.