Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.30

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.295 per share on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

Essential Properties Realty Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.1% per year over the last three years. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 88.1% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities analysts expect Essential Properties Realty Trust to earn $1.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.18 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.6%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE EPRT opened at $31.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 5.36, a current ratio of 5.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $24.72 and a 52-week high of $34.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $31.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.40.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on EPRT shares. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho upped their price objective 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. Barclays cut their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.54, for a total value 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. This represents a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Company Profile

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.