Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Upgraded 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 sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $275.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $271.00 and set a “cautious” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Monday, January 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $285.70.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE ESS opened at $254.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $243.25 and a 1-year high of $316.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $257.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $16.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.01. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 45.46%.The firm had revenue of $473.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.91 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is presently 78.12%.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,493,313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,973,805,000 after buying an additional 53,039 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,169 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,540,570,000 after acquiring an additional 129,806 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 151,452.8% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,978,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $843,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,976,047 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 1.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,825,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $515,226,000 after acquiring an additional 23,565 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,157,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $309,848,000 after purchasing an additional 100,730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

Essex Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: ESS) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on market-rate apartment communities and delivers a full suite of property services including leasing, resident services, asset management, and capital improvement programs designed to preserve and enhance long‑term property values.

Essex concentrates its portfolio in West Coast markets, with a significant presence in California and the Pacific Northwest.