Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $298.00 to $297.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $295.00 to $283.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $295.03.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $260.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $262.33 and its 200-day moving average is $272.41. The company has a market cap of $16.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.82. Essex Property Trust has a 52-week low of $243.25 and a 52-week high of $316.29.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $473.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $472.11 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 45.46%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.91 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 78.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,440,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,200,675,000 after buying an additional 87,117 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 26.7% in the 1st quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 75,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,149,000 after purchasing an additional 15,912 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 9,636 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 45,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,628 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.