Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Price Target Increased to $325.00 by Analysts at Raymond James

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Raymond James from $295.00 to $325.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Raymond James’ target price points to a potential upside of 7.69% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $269.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Essex Property Trust from $268.00 to $283.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush increased their price target on Essex Property Trust from $264.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Essex Property Trust from $261.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $276.70.

Essex Property Trust Price Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $301.79 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $281.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $260.04. Essex Property Trust has a 52-week low of $203.85 and a 52-week high of $302.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 3.19 and a current ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.86.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.85 by ($2.40). The firm had revenue of $442.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $433.26 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.31% and a return on equity of 9.14%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total value of $2,745,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,118 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,519.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Angela L. Kleiman sold 3,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.27, for a total value of $1,051,860.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,494 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,895.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Keith R. Guericke sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.57, for a total value of $2,745,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,118 shares in the company, valued at $4,425,519.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ESS. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 20,707 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,636,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1,319.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 880 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 818 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the second quarter valued at approximately $98,594,000. Scientech Research LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $616,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 50,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,747,000 after buying an additional 19,062 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.