Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $305.42.

A number of research firms have recently commented on ESS. Barclays began coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $316.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 237.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter worth about $443,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,594 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,492 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,223,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 315,454 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $85,867,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS traded down $0.55 during trading on Friday, reaching $283.20. The stock had a trading volume of 364,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,089. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $291.80. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $223.06 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.92.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is 114.49%.

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.