Zacks Research Has Optimistic Outlook of ESS FY2024 Earnings

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) – Research analysts at Zacks Research boosted their FY2024 EPS estimates for Essex Property Trust in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, November 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the real estate investment trust will post earnings per share of $15.55 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $15.46. The consensus estimate for Essex Property Trust’s current full-year earnings is $15.56 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Essex Property Trust’s Q4 2024 earnings at $3.87 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $3.89 EPS and Q2 2025 earnings at $3.98 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $240.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $309.00 to $329.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America lowered Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $307.00 to $321.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $333.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.00.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

NYSE:ESS opened at $300.59 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $297.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $284.68. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $210.36 and a 1-year high of $317.73. The firm has a market cap of $19.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.94 and a beta of 0.88.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last issued its 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). The company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 9.72% and a net margin of 31.55%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.78 EPS.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 25.2% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 3,662 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,082,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $627,000. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 31,780 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,388,000 after purchasing an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,074 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,726,072 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $508,381,000 after buying an additional 25,591 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Essex Property Trust

In other news, CAO Anne Morrison sold 2,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.79, for a total value of $809,325.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 2,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,627.59. This represents a 52.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Amal M. Johnson sold 2,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $735,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,500. The trade was a 48.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,402 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,663. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Essex Property Trust’s payout ratio is 114.49%.

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.