GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Purchases 50 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,217 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,126 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,178,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 46.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 317 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 486.8% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 223 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 124.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at $16,703,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ESS shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $355.00 price objective (down from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Raymond James Financial upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Truist Financial increased 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, June 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $310.28.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.3%

ESS opened at $284.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.85 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $282.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.65.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 37.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.37%.

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.