Wedbush Weighs in on Essex Property Trust, Inc.’s FY2024 Earnings (NYSE:ESS)

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) – Equities researchers at Wedbush raised their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note issued to investors on Monday, May 6th. Wedbush analyst R. Anderson now forecasts that the real estate investment trust will earn $15.30 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $14.84. Wedbush currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $264.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Essex Property Trust’s current full-year earnings is $15.21 per share.

ESS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $239.50 to $243.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $227.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $224.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $265.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essex Property Trust presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $249.76.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ESS opened at $257.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.19, a current ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $203.85 and a fifty-two week high of $258.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $241.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.61. The company has a market cap of $16.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.79.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 119.80%.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 2,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $445,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,265 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 243.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 35,951 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,454,000 after buying an additional 25,488 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $881,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.