Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Makes New Investment in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,014,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter worth $1,664,000. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter worth about $223,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 7.0% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,431,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 70.2% during the second quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,457 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 50,197 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,237,000 after purchasing an additional 3,129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $254.50 on Friday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $243.25 and a 12-month high of $316.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $258.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $16.39 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 0.74.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $479.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $474.66 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.61% and a net margin of 35.48%.During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.92 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 15.690-16.190 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 3.890-4.010 EPS. Analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $2.59 per share. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 98.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $273.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Evercore decreased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $271.00 and set a “cautious” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 price objective (down previously from $304.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays reissued a “positive” rating and set a $292.00 price target on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $283.87.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

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.