VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases New Shares in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 129,070 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $36,578,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ESS. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.8%

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $259.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $263.46 and a 200-day moving average of $273.68. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $243.85 and a one year high of $316.29. 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 company has a market cap of $16.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.81.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.99 by $0.04. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 13.98%. The company had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.94 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 3.890-3.990 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.800-16.020 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $2.57 dividend. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ESS shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $279.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $295.00 to $283.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.09.

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.