Strs Ohio Sells 17,803 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Strs Ohio cut its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 21.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 64,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 17,803 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $15,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 929,187 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $248,703,000 after buying an additional 5,483 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 442.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 27,902 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,468,000 after acquiring an additional 22,761 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 524,756 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $140,443,000 after acquiring an additional 15,301 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 393.1% in the third quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 69,629 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,637,000 after acquiring an additional 55,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 255,533 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $66,868,000 after acquiring an additional 6,422 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Essex Property Trust

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.45, for a total value of $167,670.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $669,003.30. This represents a 20.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $297.87 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $238.46 and a one year high of $299.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $19.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $276.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $261.38.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by ($2.31). The company had revenue of $484.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $479.89 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 30.03%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.97 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.040 EPS. Research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $2.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $10.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 116.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ESS. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $278.00 to $281.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $293.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $296.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.08.

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.