Essex Property Trust, Inc. (ESS)

Several events impacted Essex Property Trust's stock price in the past six months. On July 29, 2025, Essex announced its second-quarter 2025 earnings, reporting funds from operations (FFO) of $4.03, which beat estimates by $0.05, and revenue growth of 3.2%, but the stock declined by 7% due to concerns about weakening rent trends and a cautious outlook for the second half of 2025. On October 29, 2025, the company released its third-quarter 2025 results, reporting an EPS of $3.97, exceeding analysts' consensus estimates by $0.01, and quarterly revenue of $473.30 million, which was above analyst estimates, and Essex also raised its full-year 2025 guidance. On December 3, 2025, Essex Property Trust priced a $350 million offering of 4.875% senior unsecured notes due in 2036, with the proceeds primarily intended to refinance near-term debt maturities. On December 5, 2025, the company declared its regular quarterly cash distributions. Between December 2025 and January 2026, analyst downgrades and price target adjustments impacted the stock. The stock experienced a decline of 16.19% between December 9, 2024, and December 8, 2025, and as of December 12, 2025, shares had fallen 9.8% on a six-month basis and 13.4% over the past 52 weeks, trading below its 200-day moving average since early April 2025 and below its 50-day moving average since late July 2025, indicating a bearish trend.

Demand for Essex Property Trust's apartment rentals can exhibit seasonality, with the second quarter historically being seasonally stronger for the apartment sector, but Los Angeles experienced sequentially flat performance in Q2 2025, suggesting some softening in that market. The broader U.S. apartment market saw a surge in demand in the fourth quarter of 2024, exceeding new supply, and management anticipates that the West Coast markets will outperform the U.S. average in terms of housing demand in 2026.

Essex Property Trust, Inc. (ESS) is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in the acquisition, development, redevelopment, and management of multifamily residential properties, operating within the Real Estate sector and the Residential REITs industry, with apartment communities as its primary product. As of December 31, 2024, Essex's portfolio included 255 residential units, totaling 62,157 apartments.

Essex Property Trust's geographic footprint is concentrated on the West Coast of the United States, predominantly in supply-constrained markets, including Southern California (44%), Northern California (36%), and the Seattle metropolitan area (20%), with specific markets including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle, and some sources indicating a presence in the Portland metropolitan area.

In the past year, Essex Property Trust received positive recognition for its workplace environment, being named a "2025-2026 Best Company to Work For" by U.S. News & World Report on May 29, 2025, and earning distinctions as a Best Company to Work For in Real Estate and Facilities Management and a Best Company to Work For in the West, with no significant negative events impacting the company's brand reputation found in the provided information for the past year.

Essex Property Trust is predominantly owned by institutional investors, ranging from approximately 81.9% to 99.28% of the company's stock, with major institutional owners including Vanguard Group Inc, BlackRock, Inc., Cohen & Steers, Inc., State Street Corp, Price T Rowe Associates Inc /md/, Geode Capital Management, Llc, Principal Financial Group Inc, Daiwa Securities Group Inc, Massachusetts Financial Services Company, and Northern Trust Corp. Individual investors hold a smaller portion, ranging from 0.73% to 13.25% of the stock, and insider ownership is relatively low, between 0.41% and 1.07%, with George M. Marcus recognized as the founder of Essex Property Trust in 1971.