Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,480,000 shares, an increase of 10.4% from the March 15th total of 1,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 405,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $259.00 to $255.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Mizuho upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Raymond James upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $237.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $245.37.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,614,782 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,667,195,000 after purchasing an additional 184,047 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,072,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $761,760,000 after purchasing an additional 730,141 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $675,183,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,685,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $417,959,000 after purchasing an additional 162,809 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS opened at $232.63 on Wednesday. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $203.85 and a 1 year high of $252.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.94 billion, a PE ratio of 36.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 3.26 and a quick ratio of 3.26. The business’s 50-day moving average is $237.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.47.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 155.31%.

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.