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

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $310.83.

Several brokerages have weighed in on ESS. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $355.00 price objective (down from $370.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, May 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ESS. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 505.0% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 363 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 9,824 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,804,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 315.3% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,304 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock traded up $0.65 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $284.66. 607,549 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 417,369. The company has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 5.93 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $286.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Essex Property Trust has a 52-week low of $243.85 and a 52-week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.92 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $464.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 37.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is 98.37%.

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.