Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Buys Shares of 11,258 Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter, purchasing 11,258 shares valued at about $2.95 million.
• Institutional ownership is very high, with hedge funds and other large investors holding 96.51% of the stock; several firms also increased their positions in recent quarters.
• Essex Property Trust reported first-quarter earnings of $1.65 per share, missing analyst expectations, though revenue came in slightly ahead of forecasts. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $2.59 per share, implying a 3.7% yield.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 11,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $2,946,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,873,698 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $488,601,000 after purchasing an additional 22,835 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,679,607 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $439,520,000 after purchasing an additional 301,349 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,157,617 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $309,848,000 after purchasing an additional 100,730 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 950,748 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $248,792,000 after purchasing an additional 29,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 929,187 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $248,703,000 after purchasing an additional 5,483 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $282.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 11th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $278.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $293.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $287.03.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $281.91 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $262.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.84. The company has a market cap of $18.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.33 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $238.46 and a fifty-two week high of $294.09.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.96 by ($2.31). The firm had revenue of $484.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $479.89 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 30.03%.During the same period last year, the business earned $3.97 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.040 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.08 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $2.59 dividend. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In other news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 600 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.45, for a total value of $167,670.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,394 shares of the company's stock, valued at $669,003.30. This trade represents a 20.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.47% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essex Property Trust Profile

Essex Property Trust, Inc NYSE: ESS is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on market-rate apartment communities and delivers a full suite of property services including leasing, resident services, asset management, and capital improvement programs designed to preserve and enhance long‑term property values.

Essex concentrates its portfolio in West Coast markets, with a significant presence in California and the Pacific Northwest.

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