Wedbush Reduces Earnings Estimates for Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) – Investment analysts at Wedbush reduced their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of Essex Property Trust in a note issued to investors on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush analyst R. Anderson now anticipates that the real estate investment trust will earn $15.94 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $16.08. The consensus estimate for Essex Property Trust’s current full-year earnings is $15.96 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Essex Property Trust’s FY2026 earnings at $16.54 EPS.

ESS has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $316.00 to $302.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $302.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $306.53.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.1 %

ESS stock opened at $291.36 on Wednesday. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $223.06 and a fifty-two week high of $317.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 6.93 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $286.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $292.52.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.40 by $2.52. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.05% and a net margin of 41.79%.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 84.92%.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,353,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,955,205,000 after purchasing an additional 61,645 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $508,381,000 after buying an additional 25,591 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,494,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $426,532,000 after acquiring an additional 70,785 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $392,766,000 after acquiring an additional 183,947 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 772,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $220,612,000 after purchasing an additional 18,704 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.