Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Earns Overweight Rating from Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a $291.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

ESS has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a sell rating and set a $227.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $265.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $237.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $243.74.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $244.81 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $236.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $228.46. Essex Property Trust has a 52 week low of $201.66 and a 52 week high of $252.85. The company has a current ratio of 3.26, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a PE ratio of 38.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.79.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 155.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $675,183,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 112.4% during the second quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 2,175,976 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $509,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,338 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 15.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,712,755 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,419,056,000 after purchasing an additional 874,625 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 213.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 888,858 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $188,367,000 after acquiring an additional 604,863 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 201.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 534,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $132,639,000 after acquiring an additional 357,268 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.