Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Has $1.25 Million Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 28.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,385 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 963 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ESS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $306.53.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ESS stock opened at $290.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $223.06 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $18.67 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 6.93 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $286.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.55.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. Equities analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.92%.

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.