New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 9,466 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,466 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.09% of Essex Property Trust worth $13,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 2,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 36,882 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,145,000 after purchasing an additional 1,549 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 15,890 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 111.5% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 110 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 219.9% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 100,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,871,000 after buying an additional 68,951 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $237.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James raised Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $225.00 to $223.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $215.00 to $281.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $246.16.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $248.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $239.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.16. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $203.85 and a 52-week high of $252.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.80.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 155.31%.

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.