Ethic Inc. Increases Stock Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Ethic Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 155 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $843,969,000 after buying an additional 2,976,047 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at $384,606,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 66.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,746,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $841,916,000 after buying an additional 1,096,619 shares during the period. Resolution Capital Ltd lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 59.0% during the first quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd now owns 821,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,991,000 after buying an additional 304,936 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at $91,014,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $298.00 to $297.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $300.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $295.00 to $283.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. BNP Paribas lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.09.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE ESS opened at $264.74 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $243.85 and a one year high of $316.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $264.17 and a 200 day moving average of $273.53. The company has a market capitalization of $17.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.28, a PEG ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 43.51%.The company had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.47 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.94 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 3.890-3.990 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.800-16.020 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.64%.

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.