Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $285.70.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. Barclays reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $292.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $280.00 to $268.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $294.00 to $284.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 1,768.0% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 157,438 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,198,000 after buying an additional 149,010 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,653 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,621 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8,827.8% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 93,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,367,000 after acquiring an additional 92,074 shares during the period. Finally, CPC Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the fourth quarter worth approximately $891,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $245.36 on Thursday. Essex Property Trust has a 52 week low of $243.25 and a 52 week high of $316.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market cap of $15.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $257.32 and a 200-day moving average of $262.00.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.01. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 45.46% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $473.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is currently 78.12%.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

Essex Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: ESS) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on market-rate apartment communities and delivers a full suite of property services including leasing, resident services, asset management, and capital improvement programs designed to preserve and enhance long‑term property values.

Essex concentrates its portfolio in West Coast markets, with a significant presence in California and the Pacific Northwest.