Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target Cut to $302.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $316.00 to $302.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

ESS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $308.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.32.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $277.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.83 billion, a PE ratio of 32.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $290.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $292.10. Essex Property Trust has a 52-week low of $223.06 and a 52-week high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.88 by ($2.04). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The company had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $445.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust will post 15.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a $2.45 dividend. This represents a $9.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 114.49%.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 732.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 719,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $212,583,000 after buying an additional 633,200 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the second quarter worth $98,594,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth $84,393,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 154.7% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 444,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $131,282,000 after purchasing an additional 269,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Essex Property Trust by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,329,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $392,766,000 after purchasing an additional 183,947 shares during the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.