Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS Shares Sold by GSI Capital Advisors LLC

GSI Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,799 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,128 shares during the period. Essex Property Trust accounts for 3.9% of GSI Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. GSI Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $6,905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the first quarter worth about $1,664,000. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth approximately $223,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 15.1% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 57,991 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,435,000 after buying an additional 7,602 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.0% in the second quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 11,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,293,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 1.4% during the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 9,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,731,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ESS. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $278.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $275.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Barclays reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $292.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $294.00 to $284.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $283.87.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $255.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a PE ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 8.26 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.25 and a 12 month high of $316.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $255.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $259.09.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.00 by ($0.02). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 35.48% and a return on equity of 11.61%. The business had revenue of $479.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $474.66 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.92 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 15.690-16.190 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 3.890-4.010 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.59 per share. This represents a $10.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.75%.

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.