Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.91.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on EPRT shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley cut Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $29.50 to $33.50 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EPRT opened at $32.66 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.36. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $24.72 and a 1-year high of $34.88. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 5.36 and a quick ratio of 5.36.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.14. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 45.15% and a return on equity of 6.12%. Research analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.54, for a total transaction of $406,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 178,785 shares in the company, valued at $5,817,663.90. The trade was a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Properties Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EPRT. State Street Corp increased its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,033,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $345,535,000 after buying an additional 96,615 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,651,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $145,506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,284 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,468,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,642,000 after acquiring an additional 118,927 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,422,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,342,000 after acquiring an additional 284,036 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,948,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,246,000 after acquiring an additional 469,610 shares in the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.