Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 28,891 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Key Points

• Schroder Investment Management Group trimmed its stake in Essex Property Trust by 17.3% in Q3, selling 28,891 shares and now holds 137,746 shares (about 0.21% of the company) valued at roughly $36.3 million.
• Essex raised its quarterly dividend to $2.59 (annualized $10.36) for a 4.1% yield with an ex-dividend date of March 31, but the dividend payout ratio is high at about 99.5%.
• Recent results showed a slight EPS miss ($3.98 vs. $4.00 est.) while revenue beat estimates, the company gave FY2026 EPS guidance of 15.69–16.19, and analysts maintain a consensus Hold rating with an average target of $282.00.

Schroder Investment Management Group lowered its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,746 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 28,891 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned 0.21% of Essex Property Trust worth $36,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.8% during the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 1,054 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 57.5% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 115 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.4% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 12,919 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,458,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.3% during the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gries Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the third quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 6,562 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ESS shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $278.00 price target on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $273.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $271.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 6th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $275.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $282.00.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 1.6%

ESS stock opened at $250.11 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $16.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business's 50-day moving average is $254.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.82. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.25 and a fifty-two week high of $310.10.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.02). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 35.48% and a return on equity of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $479.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $474.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.92 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 15.690-16.190 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 3.890-4.010 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.59 per share. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. This represents a $10.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently 99.52%.

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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