Piper Sandler Reiterates Overweight Rating for Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS)

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

ESS has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $260.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $227.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $281.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a neutral rating to a buy rating and cut their price target 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $243.74.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ESS stock opened at $244.81 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $235.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $228.34. 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 stock has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.80, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.79. Essex Property Trust has a twelve month low of $201.66 and a twelve month high of $252.85.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a $2.45 dividend. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 146.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 632.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,719,000 after purchasing an additional 12,954 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.2% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,304,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.2% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 27,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Credit Suisse AG raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 19.1% during the second quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 144,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,950,000 after purchasing an additional 23,245 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Essex Property Trust

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.