Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 3,532 Shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Ritholtz Wealth Management decreased its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 65.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,824 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,532 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Essex Property Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $209,000. Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 4,888 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,398,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 158.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,009 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in Essex Property Trust by 300.0% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

ESS opened at $259.69 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $243.85 and a 52-week high of $316.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $263.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $273.54.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.99 by $0.04. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 43.51%.The firm had revenue of $465.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $466.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.94 earnings per share. 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 research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ESS shares. Piper Sandler downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $355.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $320.00 to $309.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $279.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Essex Property Trust from $297.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.