10,810 Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Purchased by Alberta Investment Management Corp

Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 10,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,086,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Assetmark Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 37.5% during the 4th 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. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:ESS opened at $294.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.92 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $225.40 and a one year high of $317.73. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $285.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.80.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. 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.