Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $273.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $305.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $285.70.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Essex Property Trust stock traded up $1.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $254.19. 589,605 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 495,542. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $243.25 and a 1-year high of $316.29. The firm has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a P/E/G ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $257.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $262.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.01. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 45.46% and a return on equity of 14.68%. The company had revenue of $473.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.91 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 300.0% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 57.5% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 115 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Tobam lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 167.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tobam now owns 131 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.