Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Short Interest Down 5.1% in November

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 977,700 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the October 31st total of 1,030,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 375,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ESS. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $318.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 8,080 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.10, for a total transaction of $2,546,008.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,991,559.40. This represents a 45.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $809,325.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 2,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,627.59. The trade was a 52.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,949 shares of company stock worth $5,663,763. 3.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $743,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 162.7% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 74,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $22,109,000 after buying an additional 46,354 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 237.7% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $681,000 after buying an additional 1,761 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 8,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,537,000 after buying an additional 3,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,004,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $301.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $218.59 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $297.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.90. The stock has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.22, a PEG ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. The business had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.