Earnest Partners LLC Has $13.05 Million Stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Earnest Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,760 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,515 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.08% of Essex Property Trust worth $13,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ESS. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.8% during the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 1,054 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 115 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 12,919 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,458,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 6.3% in the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Gries Financial LLC raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 6,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,756,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $273.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $278.00 target price on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $278.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.00.

Essex Property Trust Trading Down 0.7%

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $249.61 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $254.18 and a 200-day moving average of $258.54. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $243.25 and a one year high of $310.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $16.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98, a P/E/G ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 0.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its 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). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 35.48% and a return on equity of 11.61%. The company had revenue of $479.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $474.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm 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. On average, equities 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $10.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.75%.

Essex Property Trust 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.