UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) Stock Price

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at UBS Group from $295.00 to $267.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 2.24% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Essex Property Trust from $280.00 to $268.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $301.50 to $305.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Essex Property Trust in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $304.00 to $285.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.53.

Essex Property Trust Stock Performance

NYSE ESS traded up $0.74 on Monday, reaching $261.16. 173,270 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 480,722. Essex Property Trust has a fifty-two week low of $243.25 and a fifty-two week high of $316.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $16.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $262.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $272.37.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $3.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.01. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 45.46%.The company had revenue of $473.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.11 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.91 EPS. Essex Property Trust has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 3.930-4.030 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 15.890-15.990 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Essex Property Trust will post 15.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essex Property Trust

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new position in Essex Property Trust in the 1st quarter valued at $384,606,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Essex Property Trust by 38.1% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 4.0% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,307,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its position in Essex Property Trust by 0.7% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 9,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,876,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in Essex Property Trust by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 45,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,821,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 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.