Essex Property Trust's (ESS) "Neutral" Rating Reiterated at Piper Sandler

Key Points

• Piper Sandler has downgraded Essex Property Trust from an "overweight" to a "neutral" rating, setting a target price of $275.00, which suggests a potential upside of 7.19% from its previous close.
• Market analysts are divided on Essex Property Trust, with one sell rating, twelve hold ratings, and seven buy ratings, leading to an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $308.47.
• Essex Property Trust reported an EPS of $4.03 for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $3.99, alongside revenue of $465.84 million, slightly below expectations.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reiterated by research analysts at Piper Sandler in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $275.00 target price on the real estate investment trust's stock, down from their previous target price of $355.00. Piper Sandler's price target would suggest a potential upside of 7.59% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $303.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $308.47.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:ESS traded up $1.04 on Monday, hitting $255.59. The stock had a trading volume of 37,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 487,839. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $16.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.80. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $282.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $285.72.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The business had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $466.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.94 EPS. Analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ESS. Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,733 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $772,000 after buying an additional 1,060 shares during the last quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 118.7% during the 2nd quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,060 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 12,643 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,583,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 63.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 383 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

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.