AQR Capital Management LLC Has $19.30 Million Stock 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 increased its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 834.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 62,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 56,214 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.10% of Essex Property Trust worth $19,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter worth approximately $384,606,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of 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 boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 35,500.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 448,205 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $137,406,000 after purchasing an additional 446,946 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the first quarter worth $91,014,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 65.1% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 725,896 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $222,538,000 after buying an additional 286,345 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on 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. 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 on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $335.00 to $298.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $285.00 to $279.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $298.41.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS traded down $1.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $267.23. The company had a trading volume of 259,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 369,991. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.85 and a 12 month high of $317.73. The firm has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 0.83. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $270.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $280.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 43.51%.The firm had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $466.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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. As a group, analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

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