SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) by 29.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,255 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Essex Property Trust were worth $16,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in Essex Property Trust by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 23,136 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,193,000 after buying an additional 2,395 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 594,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $159,114,000 after acquiring an additional 22,378 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust during the third quarter worth about $1,900,000. Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 473.5% during the third quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 516,756 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $138,315,000 after acquiring an additional 426,650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 2.1% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 601,341 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $160,955,000 after acquiring an additional 12,446 shares in the last quarter. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ESS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $278.00 price target on Essex Property Trust in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 price objective (down from $304.00) on shares of Essex Property Trust in a report on Monday, December 15th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Essex Property Trust from $284.00 to $278.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $305.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $292.00 to $271.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $282.00.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

Shares of ESS stock opened at $239.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 7.65 and a beta of 0.73. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $238.46 and a one year high of $309.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.15. 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 (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.00 by ($0.02). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 35.48% and a return on equity of 11.61%. The firm had revenue of $479.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $474.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.92 earnings per share. 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $2.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. This is an increase from Essex Property Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.57. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.75%.

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.