Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Given New $285.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price target lowered by Morgan Stanley from $304.00 to $285.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho cut their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays decreased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $335.00 to $298.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $285.00 to $279.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $302.86.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:ESS opened at $258.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $279.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $284.44. The company has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Essex Property Trust has a 52-week low of $243.85 and a 52-week high of $317.73.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,973,805,000 after acquiring an additional 53,039 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 151,452.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 66.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,825,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $515,226,000 after buying an additional 23,565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $384,606,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.