Morgan Stanley Cuts Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target to $285.00

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has reduced its price target for Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $285.00, maintaining an "equal weight" rating, suggesting an 11.58% potential upside from the current stock price.
• Essex Property Trust recently reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $4.03 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations by $0.04, although revenue slightly missed estimates.
• Currently, 96.51% of Essex Property Trust's stock is owned by hedge funds and institutional investors, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $304.00 to $285.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler lowered Essex Property Trust from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $355.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $320.00 to $309.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Essex Property Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $335.00 to $298.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $302.86.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:ESS traded up $3.36 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $259.56. 378,401 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 634,091. 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 has a 1-year low of $243.85 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $278.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $284.16. The firm has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 0.80.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $465.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $466.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.94 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $705,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 795 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 153,030 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $43,372,000 after acquiring an additional 9,667 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,345 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $948,000 after acquiring an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company's stock.

About Essex Property Trust

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.