Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 141,612 Shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,829,776 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 141,612 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.61% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $96,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EPRT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5,380.1% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,881,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,149,000 after buying an additional 1,847,618 shares during the period. APG Asset Management US Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at $21,274,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 1,669.8% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 603,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,610,000 after purchasing an additional 569,400 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 29.2% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,646,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,631,000 after purchasing an additional 372,040 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 244.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 427,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,958,000 after purchasing an additional 303,057 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In related news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 27,817 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $899,323.61. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,421,637.08. The trade was a 5.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EPRT has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $36.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Essential Properties Realty Trust presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.44.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:EPRT opened at $33.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.37. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.42 and a twelve month high of $34.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.53. The company has a quick ratio of 5.59, a current ratio of 5.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.16). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 46.00%. The business had revenue of $117.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.73 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 100.87%.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc, a real estate company, acquires, owns, and manages single-tenant properties in the United States. The company leases its properties to middle-market companies, such as restaurants, car washes, automotive services, medical and dental services, convenience stores, equipment rental, entertainment, early childhood education, grocery, and health and fitness on a long-term basis.