Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Stock

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at Barclays from $302.00 to $304.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 4.62% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $308.00 to $310.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $306.63.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $290.59 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $285.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.75. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $225.40 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 41.79% and a return on equity of 13.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1,247.2% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 485 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,166 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.5% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 936 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 168.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 151.8% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.