Essex Property Trust (ESS) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on market-rate apartment communities and delivers a full suite of property services including leasing, resident services, asset management, and capital improvement programs designed to preserve and enhance long‑term property values.

Essex concentrates its portfolio in West Coast markets, with a significant presence in California and the Pacific Northwest. Its holdings are concentrated in major coastal and high-demand metropolitan areas, where it pursues new development, selective acquisitions, and redevelopment or repositioning of existing communities. Typical property features include a range of unit types, on-site amenities such as fitness centers and common areas, and professional property management aimed at maintaining occupancy and resident satisfaction.

As a REIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ESS, Essex emphasizes long-term ownership and income-producing residential assets in supply-constrained, high-barrier-to-entry markets. The company’s operating approach combines development and acquisition activity with day-to-day property management to generate recurring rental revenue and to support portfolio growth over time.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $281.67 to $287.24
• 50-Day Range: $274.11 to $298.19
• 52-Week Range: $238.46 to $303.35
• Volume: 313,307 shs
• Average Volume: 435,675 shs
• Market Capitalization: $18.21 billion
• P/E Ratio: 44.08
• Dividend Yield: 3.66%
• Price Target: $305.04
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Essex Property Trust Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Essex Property Trust scored higher than 72% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 73rd out of 187 stocks in the real estate sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.9 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Essex Property Trust has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.52, and is based on 1 strong buy rating, 11 buy ratings, 10 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Essex Property Trust is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Essex Property Trust has been the subject of 18 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 0.6 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 3.53%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Essex Property Trust are expected to grow by 3.53% in the coming year, from $16.15 to $16.72 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Essex Property Trust is 44.08, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.89.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Essex Property Trust is 44.08, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Real Estate sector average P/E ratio of about 28.83.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Essex Property Trust has a PEG Ratio of 10.54. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Essex Property Trust has a P/B Ratio of 3.20. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.59% of the float of Essex Property Trust has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Essex Property Trust has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.26.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Essex Property Trust has recently increased by 9.73%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Essex Property Trust is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.60%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Essex Property Trust has been increasing its dividend for 31 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Essex Property Trust is 161.12%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Essex Property Trust will have a dividend payout ratio of 61.96% next year. This indicates that Essex Property Trust will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.24

News Sentiment

Essex Property Trust has a news sentiment score of 1.24. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.80 average news sentiment score of Real Estate companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 12 news articles for Essex Property Trust this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

2 people have added Essex Property Trust to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.6 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Essex Property Trust insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $167,670.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

3.47% of the stock of Essex Property Trust is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

96.51% of the stock of Essex Property Trust is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 7/15 Dividend: 6/30/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 7/15 Dividend: 6/30/2026
• Dividend Payable: 7/15/2026
• Last Earnings: 7/29/2026
• Today: 8/17/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/27/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Real Estate
• Industry: Residential REITs
• Sub-Industry: Multi-Family Residential REITs
• Current Symbol: NYSE:ESS
• CIK: 920522
• Web: www.essexapartmenthomes.com
• Phone: (650) 655-7800
• Fax: 650-494-8743
• Employees: 1,689
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Essex Property Trust: $305.04
• High Price Target: $352.00
• Low Price Target: $280.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +7.6%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.52
• Research Coverage: 23 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $6.43
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 44.08
• Forward P/E Ratio: 17.55
• P/E Growth: 10.54
• Net Income: $669.67 million
• Net Margins: 21.48%
• Pretax Margin: 22.71%
• Return on Equity: 7.33%
• Return on Assets: 3.16%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.22
• Current Ratio: 0.60
• Quick Ratio: 0.60

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $1.89 billion
• Price / Sales: 9.65
• Cash Flow: $19.65 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 14.42
• Book Value: $88.64 per share
• Price / Book: 3.20

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 64,270,000
• Free Float: 62,038,000
• Market Cap: $18.21 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.69