Royal Bank of Canada Buys 6,605 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 112,166 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,605 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.17% of Essex Property Trust worth $27,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the first quarter worth about $1,664,000. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $223,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 70.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 186.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 33,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,526,000 after acquiring an additional 21,871 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 8,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,345,000 after acquiring an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ESS. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $303.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $293.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $272.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $291.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.99.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $287.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $287.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.81. The stock has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a PE ratio of 44.71, a PEG ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $238.46 and a fifty-two week high of $303.35.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $2.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 161.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.45, for a total value of $167,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $669,003.30. This represents a 20.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: ESS) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on market-rate apartment communities and delivers a full suite of property services including leasing, resident services, asset management, and capital improvement programs designed to preserve and enhance long‑term property values.

Essex concentrates its portfolio in West Coast markets, with a significant presence in California and the Pacific Northwest.