ISI Group Reiterates Hold, Raises PT to $131 on Essex Property Trust

ISI Group maintains its Hold rating on Essex Property Trust

and raises its price target to $131 from $129 as the company gets ready to provide a full guidance on Thursday. ISI Group notes, "Given the continued strength in the Northern California markets and expected rebound in Southern California we would expect ESS to guide to a SS NOI growth range of 7%-10% and believe any midpoint at or above 9% will satisfy investors. Given ESS' track record, we believe it will take NOI grow guidance below 7% to garner meaningful underperformance. At the same time, with the stock trading at an implied cap rate of 4.8% we believe a meaningfully positive response by the stock would require a SS NOI guidance midpoint above 10%." ESS closed at 139.95 per share on Tuesday.