Alberta Investment Management Corp Takes $3.09 Million Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,086,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $508,381,000 after acquiring an additional 25,591 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $426,532,000 after purchasing an additional 70,785 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $392,766,000 after buying an additional 183,947 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 6.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 754,179 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $222,800,000 after buying an additional 47,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $212,583,000 after buying an additional 633,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ESS shares. 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 report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped 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, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.1 %

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $294.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $285.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $292.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a PEG ratio of 6.76 and a beta of 0.92. 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 52 week low of $225.40 and a 52 week high of $317.73.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. Analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.