Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Receives $305.42 Average PT from Analysts

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $304.32.

A number of research firms have weighed in on ESS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Raymond James downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reduced their target price on Essex Property Trust from $316.00 to $302.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 732.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $212,583,000 after buying an additional 633,200 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the second quarter worth about $98,594,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $84,393,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 154.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,282,000 after purchasing an additional 269,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $392,766,000 after purchasing an additional 183,947 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $277.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.83 billion, a PE ratio of 32.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.92. Essex Property Trust has a one year low of $223.06 and a one year high of $317.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $290.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $291.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 114.49%.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

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.