Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS Stake Boosted by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 304,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,200 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $81,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 275,690 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,791,000 after buying an additional 22,454 shares in the last quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $999,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 9,378 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,510,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 34,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,139,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 61.3% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,606 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ESS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $283.00 to $273.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $275.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $305.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $282.00 price target (down from $304.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Essex Property Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $282.00.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS opened at $250.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $16.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.25 and a twelve month high of $310.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $254.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.82.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.00 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $479.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $474.66 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 11.61% and a net margin of 35.48%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.92 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 15.690-16.190 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 3.890-4.010 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a $2.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. This represents a $10.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 99.52%.

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.