Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nineteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $302.11.

ESS has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America downgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays assumed coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $316.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $287.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 target price on the stock.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 600.0% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2,400.0% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 121.8% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 193 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter worth approximately $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $284.43 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $297.28 and a 200 day moving average of $291.64. Essex Property Trust has a 1 year low of $223.06 and a 1 year high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.90.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. The firm had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $2.45 per share. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

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.