Brokerages Set Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) PT at $285.70

Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $285.70.

ESS has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $273.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $305.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $275.00 to $284.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $280.00 to $268.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 53,039 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised 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 valued at $1,540,570,000 after purchasing an additional 129,806 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 151,452.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,976,047 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 23,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 9.5% in 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 buying an additional 100,730 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:ESS opened at $251.76 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $261.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.73. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $243.25 and a 1-year high of $316.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $473.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.11 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 45.46% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.12%.

About Essex Property Trust

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.