Wedbush Raises Earnings Estimates for Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) - Wedbush upped their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Essex Property Trust in a research report issued on Monday, May 5th. Wedbush analyst R. Anderson now expects that the real estate investment trust will earn $15.97 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $15.94. The consensus estimate for Essex Property Trust's current full-year earnings is $15.96 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $311.00 to $309.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $308.11.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.3 %

ESS traded up $0.97 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $282.62. 214,010 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 402,839. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.84 and a beta of 0.78. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $243.85 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $286.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $290.42.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.92 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $464.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.03 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.83 earnings per share.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $2.45. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essex Property Trust

In related news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 4,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.99, for a total transaction of $1,552,585.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,303,393.38. This trade represents a 26.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mary Kasaris sold 2,800 shares of Essex Property Trust stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.80, for a total transaction of $842,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $527,904. This represents a 61.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,345 shares of company stock valued at $6,682,539. Corporate insiders own 3.46% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 154,194 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $45,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,087 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter valued at $217,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 99.9% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 3,297 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 7.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 48,200 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $14,043,000 after purchasing an additional 3,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,259 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the period. 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.