Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. $ESS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $799,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,873,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $488,601,000 after purchasing an additional 22,835 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Essex Property Trust by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,679,607 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $439,520,000 after purchasing an additional 301,349 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 9.5% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,157,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $309,848,000 after acquiring an additional 100,730 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 958,090 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $250,714,000 after purchasing an additional 228,165 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Essex Property Trust by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 950,748 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $248,792,000 after acquiring an additional 29,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:ESS traded up $3.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $301.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 42,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 509,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.80, a PEG ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $276.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.39. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $238.46 and a 1 year high of $301.00.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by ($2.31). Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 30.03% and a return on equity of 10.00%. The company had revenue of $484.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $479.89 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.97 earnings per share. Essex Property Trust has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.920-4.040 EPS. Research analysts expect that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 16.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $2.59 per share. This represents a $10.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Essex Property Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $262.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Essex Property Trust to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on Essex Property Trust from $285.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Essex Property Trust from $272.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $290.00 price target on Essex Property Trust in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essex Property Trust news, Director Mary Kasaris sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.45, for a total value of $167,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $669,003.30. The trade was a 20.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.47% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Essex Property Trust Company 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.