Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Downgraded by Piper Sandler to Neutral

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) was downgraded by analysts at Piper Sandler from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $275.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior price target of $355.00. Piper Sandler’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 6.59% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ESS. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, June 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $308.26.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $258.00 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $282.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $285.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $16.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.80. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. The company 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 period last year, the company posted $3.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 300.0% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.