AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 834%, now owning 62,954 shares worth approximately $19.3 million.
• Essex Property Trust recently announced a quarterly dividend of $2.57 per share, with a yield of 3.8%.
• The company's stock is currently trading at $269.43, up 2.2%, with recent earnings exceeding analysts' expectations at $4.03 EPS.

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 834.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 56,214 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Essex Property Trust worth $19,300,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $384,606,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 66.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,746,242 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $841,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,619 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 35,500.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 448,205 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $137,406,000 after buying an additional 446,946 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth $91,014,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 65.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 725,896 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $222,538,000 after buying an additional 286,345 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ESS. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $320.00 to $309.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $298.41.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE ESS traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $267.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 108,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 479,169. The stock has a market cap of $17.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50, a PEG ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 0.83. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company's 50-day moving average is $270.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $280.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $465.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $466.47 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 13.98%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $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 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

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

Essex Property Trust 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.