Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $32.03 Million Stock Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Key Points

• The Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in Essex Property Trust, owning 113,003 shares worth $32.03 million after a 1.4% increase in the second quarter.
• Essex Property Trust's quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $4.03, exceeding analysts' expectations, and the firm set a dividend of $2.57 per share.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded their ratings for Essex Property Trust, with a current average target price of $297.17 and a majority rating of "Hold."

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 113,003 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 1,528 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.18% of Essex Property Trust worth $32,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,440,274 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,200,675,000 after buying an additional 87,117 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 66.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,746,242 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $841,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,619 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth $384,606,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,247,133 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $382,334,000 after purchasing an additional 119,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 854,606 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $261,205,000 after purchasing an additional 52,793 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on ESS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial upgraded 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 note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $279.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $285.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $297.17.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $264.33 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $267.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $278.45. The company has a market cap of $17.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.88 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 $316.29. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm 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 expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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