Natixis Acquires 12,956 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Natixis grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 108.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 12,956 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $7,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 486.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were 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 owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. This trade represents a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 7,298 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $2,298,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,077,170. This trade represents a 31.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539 over the last 90 days. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $307.11.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 1.3 %

ESS stock opened at $275.37 on Monday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $235.40 and a twelve month high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $17.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $291.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.51.

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

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.08%.

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.