Essex Property Trust, Inc. (ESS), headquartered in San Mateo, California, is a prominent real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in multifamily residential properties. With a market cap of $19.28 billion, Essex Property Trust owns, manages, and develops high-quality apartment communities in West Coast markets.
Companies valued at $10 billion or more are classified as "large-cap" stocks, and Essex Property Trust fits right into this category, reflecting its significant scale, stability, and leadership within the multifamily residential real estate sector.
ESS shares are trading 5.5% below their 52-week high of $317.73, which they hit on Sep. 17. However, the stock has gained 7.5% over the past three months, underperforming the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLRE) 17% gain over the same time frame.
In the longer term, ESS is up 21.1% on a YTD basis, and the shares have gained 39.2% over the past 52 weeks. XLRE has gained 12% in 2024 and 29.8% over the past year.
ESS has been trading above its 50-day moving average since early August and its 200-day moving average since late February, which confirms its bullish trend.
ESS’ shares closed down to 1.8% on Jul. 30 following the release of its Q2 earnings report. Its funds from operations (FFO) of $3.94 per share exceeded Street forecasts of $3.84 per share. Also, the company posted revenue of $442.40 million, surpassing the Wall Street forecasts of $433.30 million. ESS expects full-year FFO in the range of $15.38 to $15.62 per share.
Highlighting the contrast in performance, rival AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB) has outperformed both ESS and XLRE, with a 22.9% gain on a YTD basis.
Despite ESS' outperformance compared to its industry peers, analysts are cautious about its prospects. The stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" from 27 analysts in coverage. The mean price target is $295.92, which indicates that the stock trades at a premium.
On the date of publication, Rashmi Kumari did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
