Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,296,863 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 46,568 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.16% of Essex Property Trust worth $2,694,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 973.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 743,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $199,127,000 after buying an additional 674,617 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 473.5% during the 3rd quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 516,756 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $138,315,000 after acquiring an additional 426,650 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1,768.0% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 157,438 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,198,000 after acquiring an additional 149,010 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,157,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $309,848,000 after acquiring an additional 100,730 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8,827.8% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 93,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,367,000 after acquiring an additional 92,074 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ESS. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Friday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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 report on Friday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $278.00 to $281.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $281.91.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 4.5%

ESS opened at $268.34 on Wednesday. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $238.46 and a 1 year high of $294.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $251.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $17.30 billion, a PE ratio of 25.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 0.71.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.10. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 35.48% and a return on equity of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $480.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $480.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.97 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.040 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $2.59 per share. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.52%.

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.