American Century Companies Inc. Sells 66,060 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 18.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 291,713 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 66,060 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.45% of Essex Property Trust worth $82,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cozad Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,187 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,037,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at $269,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 138,574 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,272,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 1,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,206 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ESS shares. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $271.00 and set a “cautious” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Piper Sandler cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $355.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $294.00 to $284.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $291.53.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS stock opened at $261.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $260.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.25. The stock has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.82. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $243.25 and a one year high of $316.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.01. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 45.46% and a return on equity of 14.70%. The company had revenue of $473.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.11 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.91 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.12%.

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.