VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes $36.58 Million Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Key Points

• VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al has acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust, purchasing 129,070 shares valued at approximately $36.58 million in the 2nd quarter.
• Analysts have issued mixed ratings for Essex Property Trust, with seven rating it as Buy, twelve as Hold, and one as Sell, alongside price targets ranging from $275 to $300.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $4.03, surpassing analyst expectations, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $2.57 per share, representing an annualized yield of 4.0%.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 129,070 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $36,578,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned approximately 0.20% of Essex Property Trust as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 4.6% during the first quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 985 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 929 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 778 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 5.6% during the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 912 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 34.8% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 190 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ESS. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Essex Property Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $300.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 report on Wednesday, August 13th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an "outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $355.00 to $275.00 in a report on Monday, August 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.09.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.8%

ESS stock opened at $259.69 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $243.85 and a 1-year high of $316.29. The firm has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.81. The business's 50 day moving average is $263.46 and its 200-day moving average is $273.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $465.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $466.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust's payout ratio is 82.64%.

Essex Property Trust Company 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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