Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV decreased its position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 61.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,598 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 100,733 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned about 0.10% of Essex Property Trust worth $18,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,440,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,200,675,000 after buying an additional 87,117 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP raised its position in Essex Property Trust by 26.7% during the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 75,510 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,149,000 after acquiring an additional 15,912 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 12,050.0% during the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 243 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 19.9% during the second quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 9,636 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 174,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,628 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Essex Property Trust stock opened at $253.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $261.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.91. The stock has a market cap of $16.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $243.25 and a 1-year high of $316.29.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $473.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $472.11 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 45.46%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.91 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $2.57 per share. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ESS. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $298.00 to $297.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $300.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $292.53.

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.