Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS Shares Sold by Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH reduced its stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,274 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 77,777 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $51,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ESS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,493,313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,973,805,000 after acquiring an additional 53,039 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Essex Property Trust by 2.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,388,169 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,540,570,000 after purchasing an additional 129,806 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 151,452.8% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,978,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $843,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,976,047 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,825,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $515,226,000 after buying an additional 23,565 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,056,887 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $299,522,000 after buying an additional 344,287 shares during the period. 96.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays restated a “positive” rating and issued a $292.00 target price on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 price target (down from $304.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Monday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $305.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Essex Property Trust from $279.00 to $271.00 and set a “cautious” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $285.70.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE ESS opened at $257.24 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 0.73. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.25 and a twelve month high of $316.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.20.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $473.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $472.11 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 14.68% and a net margin of 45.46%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.91 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 78.12%.

Essex Property Trust Profile

Essex Property Trust, Inc (NYSE: ESS) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, owns and operates multifamily residential properties. The company focuses on market-rate apartment communities and delivers a full suite of property services including leasing, resident services, asset management, and capital improvement programs designed to preserve and enhance long‑term property values.

Essex concentrates its portfolio in West Coast markets, with a significant presence in California and the Pacific Northwest.