Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target to $268.00

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $280.00 to $268.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

ESS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $271.00 and set a “cautious” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $294.00 to $284.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Piper Sandler cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Essex Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $292.53.

Essex Property Trust Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $254.44 on Monday. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $243.25 and a 1-year high of $316.29. The company has a market capitalization of $16.39 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $262.01 and a 200-day moving average of $272.04.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.01. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 45.46%.The business had revenue of $473.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $472.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.91 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $10.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 78.12%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 151,452.8% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,978,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $843,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,976,047 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter worth $384,606,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 66.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,746,242 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $841,916,000 after buying an additional 1,096,619 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the second quarter valued at $239,442,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 473.5% during the third quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 516,756 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $138,315,000 after acquiring an additional 426,650 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Essex Property Trust

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.