Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Acquires 409 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 409 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $675,183,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 201.1% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 534,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $132,639,000 after buying an additional 357,268 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 119.3% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 412,721 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $102,602,000 after buying an additional 224,554 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5,069.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 208,651 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $44,253,000 after buying an additional 204,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 776,149 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $164,233,000 after acquiring an additional 89,198 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ESS shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $239.50 to $243.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $256.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $259.00 to $255.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “hold” rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $255.28.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE ESS traded up $1.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $259.40. 225,551 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 347,839. The company has a market cap of $16.66 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $203.85 and a fifty-two week high of $269.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $247.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $237.88.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 119.80%.

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.