Essex Property Trust (ESS) Competitors

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and AvalonBay Communities (NYSE:AVB) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ESS or AVB?

Essex Property Trust received 55 more outperform votes than AvalonBay Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.93% of users gave AvalonBay Communities an outperform vote while only 56.19% of users gave Essex Property Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Essex Property Trust	Outperform Votes 731 56.19%	Underperform Votes 570 43.81%
AvalonBay Communities	Outperform Votes 676 59.93%	Underperform Votes 452 40.07%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in ESS or AVB?

96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of AvalonBay Communities shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate ESS or AVB?

Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus target price of $312.17, indicating a potential upside of 14.06%. AvalonBay Communities has a consensus target price of $239.93, indicating a potential upside of 20.12%. Given AvalonBay Communities' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AvalonBay Communities is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essex Property Trust	1 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.32
AvalonBay Communities	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47

Is ESS or AVB more profitable?

Essex Property Trust has a net margin of 41.79% compared to AvalonBay Communities' net margin of 37.13%. Essex Property Trust's return on equity of 13.05% beat AvalonBay Communities' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essex Property Trust	41.79%	13.05%	5.82%
AvalonBay Communities	37.13%	9.15%	5.15%

Does the media favor ESS or AVB?

In the previous week, AvalonBay Communities had 1 more articles in the media than Essex Property Trust. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for AvalonBay Communities and 19 mentions for Essex Property Trust. Essex Property Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat AvalonBay Communities' score of 1.35 indicating that Essex Property Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Essex Property Trust	18 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AvalonBay Communities	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, ESS or AVB?

Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AvalonBay Communities has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ESS or AVB a better dividend stock?

Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $10.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. AvalonBay Communities pays an annual dividend of $7.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Essex Property Trust pays out 98.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AvalonBay Communities pays out 87.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years and AvalonBay Communities has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Essex Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has better valuation and earnings, ESS or AVB?

AvalonBay Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Essex Property Trust. AvalonBay Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essex Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essex Property Trust	$1.81B	9.72	$741.52M	$10.45	26.19
AvalonBay Communities	$2.95B	9.65	$1.08B	$8.03	24.88

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats AvalonBay Communities on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.