Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,038,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 300.0% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Tobam raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 167.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tobam now owns 131 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ESS has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $305.00 to $280.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $267.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays restated a “positive” rating and set a $292.00 price target on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $294.00 to $284.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $285.70.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $254.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $257.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.93. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $243.25 and a 12-month high of $316.29. The stock has a market cap of $16.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $473.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.11 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 45.46% and a return on equity of 14.68%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.91 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.12%.

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.