Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Truist Financial Analyst Says

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price target upped by research analysts at Truist Financial from $292.00 to $304.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Truist Financial’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 0.73% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $307.16.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of ESS traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $301.80. 9,140 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 463,055. The firm has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.19, a P/E/G ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Essex Property Trust has a 12-month low of $230.90 and a 12-month high of $317.73.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total value of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. The trade was a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Barbara Pak sold 6,318 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total transaction of $1,988,843.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,654 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,192.66. The trade was a 42.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 18,545 shares of company stock worth $5,840,299. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the third quarter valued at about $226,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 14.4% during the third quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $721,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,004,000. 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.