74,114 Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 573,853 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 74,114 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $154,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at $381,000. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at about $261,000. MGO One Seven LLC bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth about $232,000. Aprio Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 7.0% during the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 780 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.1% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 110,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,717,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE ESS opened at $264.04 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $238.46 and a one year high of $303.35. The firm has a market cap of $16.99 billion, a PE ratio of 48.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.82 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $274.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $269.67.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.01 by ($2.49). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 17.84% and a return on equity of 6.24%. The company had revenue of $492.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $491.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a $2.59 dividend. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 192.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ESS. Citigroup raised Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $286.00 to $275.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (down from $326.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $298.27.

Essex Property Trust Profile

Essex Property Trust, Inc is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily apartment communities. The company focuses on providing rental housing in high-demand markets and generates revenue primarily from apartment rents and related resident services.

Founded in 1971 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, Essex operates primarily in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Seattle metropolitan area.