Short sellers pulled back heading into Essex Property Trust's Q1 earnings. The multi-family REIT reports Monday evening with a modest short position and analyst price targets below current levels.
Short interest stood at 1.73 million shares as of April 23, representing 2.68% of the free float. That's down 6.1% over the past month and down 0.1% over the past week. Days to cover sits at 4.28 based on recent fortnightly FINRA data. Cost to borrow remains low at 0.51%, up 19% over the past week. Utilisation ticked higher to 1.22%, well below the 52-week peak of 6.32%. The short position is light and declining into the print.
The put/call ratio hit 0.61 on April 24, significantly below the 20-day mean of 0.77. The z-score of -1.55 indicates elevated call activity relative to recent weeks. The PCR sits toward the lower end of its 52-week range of 0.20 to 1.15. Options traders appear positioned for upside.
Wall Street has turned cautious. Wells Fargo's James Feldman lowered his price target to $262 from $268 on April 23, maintaining Equal-Weight. Evercore ISI's Steve Sakwa cut to $264 from $269 on April 6, also holding an In-Line rating. Barclays' Richard Hightower made the sharpest reduction in March, slashing his target to $271 from $292. Raymond James downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform in late February. The average price target of $278 implies 8.9% upside, but recent momentum tilts negative. Benzinga's bull case highlights 2.6% same-store revenue growth projections and potential AI job growth in Northern California. The bear case flags soft California employment trends and a narrow NAV discount that could weigh on the stock.
ESS trades at a P/E of 43.3, up 1.8 points over 30 days. EV/EBITDA sits at 18.0, up 0.09 over the same period. The stock ranks in the 8th percentile on forward EPS growth and the 27th percentile on 90-day EPS momentum. Dividend quality scores high at the 94th percentile. The valuation has expanded modestly into the report.
Insiders sold $5.7 million net over the past 90 days. CEO Angela Kleiman sold $123,000 in mid-February, and CFO Barbara Pak sold $53,000 on the same day. Vanguard holds 16.0% of shares, BlackRock 10.8%, and State Street 8.1%. Principal Global increased its stake by 300,000 shares in late February.
Essex last reported on February 4. Prior earnings occurred in February and throughout 2025. The stock has climbed 4.9% over the past month despite the recent downward revisions from analysts.
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