United Services Automobile Association Takes $464,000 Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Key Points

• United Services Automobile Association invested approximately $464,000 in Essex Property Trust, acquiring 1,517 shares during the first quarter.
• Essex Property Trust announced a quarterly dividend of $2.57 per share, with a 3.9% yield, to be paid on October 15th to shareholders of record on September 30th.
• Analysts have reduced their target prices for Essex Property Trust, with Truist Financial and Evercore ISI setting new targets of $283.00 and $279.00 respectively, while maintaining "hold" ratings.

United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,517 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $653,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 883 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $705,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 133,886 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $41,045,000 after buying an additional 1,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter valued at $569,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on ESS. Scotiabank cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $320.00 to $309.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. UBS Group cut their target price 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on 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. Piper Sandler downgraded Essex Property Trust from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $355.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $298.66.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock traded up $0.07 on Tuesday, reaching $264.70. The stock had a trading volume of 106,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 479,302. The stock has a market cap of $17.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 0.83. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.85 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $270.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $280.00.

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

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Essex Property Trust's 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.