AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs Takes Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Key Points

• AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust worth approximately $1,175,000 by purchasing 4,139 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have set mixed price targets for ESS, with Wells Fargo lowering its target from $325.00 to $279.00, while Stifel Nicolaus increased it slightly from $301.50 to $305.50.
• Essex Property Trust recently declared a dividend of $2.57 per share, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 3.8% for investors.

AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,139 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,175,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,629 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,014 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $860,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $192,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 190.3% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 16,033 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $289,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $279.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Piper Sandler cut Essex Property Trust from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $285.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $298.41.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.6%

ESS opened at $267.23 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $270.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.50. The company has a market capitalization of $17.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 0.83. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.85 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $465.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.47 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 43.51%.During the same period last year, the business posted $3.94 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 3.890-3.990 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.800-16.020 EPS. Analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 82.64%.

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.

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