Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Raised to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

ESS has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $305.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $281.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Scotiabank cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $278.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Monday, February 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.00.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.0%

ESS opened at $250.15 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $251.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.63. The company has a market capitalization of $16.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 0.71. Essex Property Trust has a 52 week low of $238.46 and a 52 week high of $294.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.00 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $479.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $474.66 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.61% and a net margin of 35.48%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.92 earnings per share. 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. Analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 23,136 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,193,000 after purchasing an additional 2,395 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 594,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $159,114,000 after purchasing an additional 22,378 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth $1,900,000. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 473.5% in the 3rd quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 516,756 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $138,315,000 after purchasing an additional 426,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 23,100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 2,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 2,541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.