BMO Capital Markets Upgrades Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) to Outperform

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $310.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, down from their prior price target of $323.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays started coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $316.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James cut Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America cut Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $305.42.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of Essex Property Trust stock opened at $283.19 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 5.90 and a beta of 0.92. 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 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $294.20 and a 200 day moving average of $291.63.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. The firm had revenue of $450.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 114.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. Choreo LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $370,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 54,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,755,000 after purchasing an additional 7,540 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 237.7% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $681,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,601 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,797,000 after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.