M&T Bank Corp Buys 6,219 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 596.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,219 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $1,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ESS. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,664,000. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 70.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 186.2% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 33,614 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,526,000 after purchasing an additional 21,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.9% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 8,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $263.68 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.15. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $238.46 and a fifty-two week high of $294.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 8.38 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.96 by ($2.31). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.03% and a return on equity of 10.00%. The business had revenue of $484.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $479.89 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.97 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.040 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.03 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $2.59 dividend. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ESS. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $281.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $305.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $278.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $275.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.97.

About Essex Property Trust

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.