JMP Securities Reiterates “Market Perform” Rating for Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS)

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at JMP Securities in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on ESS. Bank of America lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $307.00 to $321.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Raymond James lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Essex Property Trust from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $297.00 to $303.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Essex Property Trust from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $323.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Essex Property Trust from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $305.42.

Essex Property Trust Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:ESS traded up $0.19 on Thursday, reaching $283.04. The stock had a trading volume of 7,458 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,700. The company has a market cap of $18.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.07, a P/E/G ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $294.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $291.71. Essex Property Trust has a 12-month low of $223.06 and a 12-month high of $317.73.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by ($2.04). The firm had revenue of $450.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $445.88 million. Essex Property Trust had a net margin of 31.55% and a return on equity of 9.72%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.78 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Essex Property Trust will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Essex Property Trust

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its position in Essex Property Trust by 4.7% in the third quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 803 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,041,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 3.6% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 7.4% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 781 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.51% of the company’s stock.

Essex Property Trust Company Profile

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.