Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 149,882 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,343,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 149,882 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.16% of Essex Property Trust worth $2,768,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter valued at $1,664,000. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at about $223,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 7.0% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,118 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted 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 worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $256.10 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $255.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $259.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.60, a P/E/G ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 0.74. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.25 and a fifty-two week high of $316.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $479.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $474.66 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 35.48% and a return on equity of 11.61%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.92 earnings per share. 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 forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a $2.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ESS shares. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $305.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $294.00 to $284.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Barclays restated a “positive” rating and set a $292.00 price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $273.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $283.87.

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.