Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires 60 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,049 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.08% of Essex Property Trust worth $14,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,334,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 162.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,109,000 after buying an additional 46,354 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at $541,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 92.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 2,710 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 54.2% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 8,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $316.00 to $302.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $305.74.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $291.91 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $223.06 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $287.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.40. 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 $18.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 0.92.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.58 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.92%.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.