Essex Property Trust price target raised to $355 from $315 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Goldfarb raised the firm’s price target on Essex Property Trust to $355 from $315 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. Friday’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice to sue RealPage, with the implication the broader apartment universe is colluding on rents, makes official what began in 2022 and keeps with the political pattern by the Biden-Harris administration of trying to shift the blame for inflation to the private sector, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm added that the lack of any landlord named in the 115-page court document indicates the government is only pursuing RealPage, and that impact on REITs should be “minimal.