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

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) – Stock analysts at Wedbush upped their FY2024 EPS estimates for Essex Property Trust in a report released on Monday, May 6th. Wedbush analyst R. Anderson now anticipates that the real estate investment trust will earn $15.30 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $14.84. Wedbush currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $264.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Essex Property Trust’s current full-year earnings is $15.21 per share.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $237.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho raised shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $255.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $227.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $249.76.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $257.67 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $241.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.61. Essex Property Trust has a 1-year low of $203.85 and a 1-year high of $258.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a $2.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $9.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. This is a boost from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 119.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 3,072,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $761,760,000 after acquiring an additional 730,141 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essex Property Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $675,183,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 86.5% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 997,792 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,269,000 after buying an additional 462,828 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 6.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 978,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $207,560,000 after buying an additional 55,903 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 9.4% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 828,191 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $175,651,000 after buying an additional 71,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

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.