Essex Property Trust, Inc. vs Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF — how do they compare? Essex Property Trust, Inc. trades at $280.65 (market cap $18.15B), while Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF trades at $381.44. The key difference: Essex Property Trust, Inc. pays a 3.93% dividend while Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF pays none, and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF is trading nearer its 52-week high, Essex Property Trust, Inc. nearer its low. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| ESS | VTI | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $18.15B | — |
Sector | Real Estate | — |
52-Week High | $298.33 | $381.78 |
52-Week Low | $239.61 | $311.68 |
Enterprise Value | $24.75B | — |
Dividend Yield | 3.93% | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
ESS trades at $282.11, down 0.39% on the day, with a bearish technical signal from moving averages and oscillators. The company reported Q2 2026 EPS of $0.97, missing expectations, but raised full-year guidance after strong property NOI growth. Revenue reached $1.89B in 2025 with a net income margin of 35.48%, though profitability is trending lower in 2026. Recent news includes ESS being named a top GreenTech company and signing a 500 MWh energy storage agreement with Juniper Energy.
The outlook is mixed: raised guidance and institutional buying support upside, but technical weakness and earnings miss pose near-term risks. Valuation ratios like P/E of 19.9 and P/S of 9.05 are reasonable for a REIT, yet debt levels and regional market volatility require caution. Analyst consensus is a Moderate Buy with a $305.86 price target, suggesting 8.4% potential upside from current levels.
VTI trades at $381.85, up 0.06% with a bullish technical signal from moving averages. The ETF maintains broad diversification across 3,500+ US stocks with a low 0.03% expense ratio. Recent institutional activity shows mixed positioning with some firms increasing holdings while others reduced exposure.
The outlook remains positive given VTI's role as a core total market holding, though the elevated RSI suggests potential near-term consolidation. Key risks include market concentration in large-cap tech and broader economic volatility affecting overall equity performance.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Essex Property Trust owns a portfolio of 253 apartment communities with over 62,000 units and is developing three additional properties with 571 units. The company focuses on owning large, high-quality properties on the West Coast in the urban and suburban submarkets of Southern California, Northern California, and Seattle.
Read more on ESS →The fund employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the index, which represents approximately 100% of the investable US stock market and includes large-, mid-, small-, and micro-cap stocks. It invests by sampling the index, meaning that it holds a broadly diversified collection of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the full index in terms of key characteristics.
Read more on VTI →