Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target Raised to $280.00

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price target increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $279.00 to $280.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $298.00 to $297.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. BNP Paribas lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $320.00 to $309.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $279.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.09.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $257.23 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $263.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.57. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $243.85 and a 1-year high of $316.29. The company has a market cap of $16.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68, a PEG ratio of 6.30 and a beta of 0.81.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $466.47 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 13.98%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.94 earnings per share. 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, research analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $2,973,805,000 after purchasing an additional 53,039 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 129,806 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $843,969,000 after buying an additional 2,976,047 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew 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 worth $841,916,000 after buying an additional 1,096,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,825,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $515,226,000 after acquiring an additional 23,565 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.