Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Shares Sold by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Heartland Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 69,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,422 shares during the quarter. Essex Property Trust comprises approximately 1.1% of Heartland Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned about 0.11% of Essex Property Trust worth $19,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted 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 buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,041,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 948 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $304.69 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $294.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.76. The company has a market cap of $19.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $230.90 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 89.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on ESS shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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 research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.16.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,345 shares of company stock worth $6,682,539. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust 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.