Essential Properties Realty Trust’s (EPRT) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company restated their overweight rating on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $37.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $34.00.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on EPRT. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They set a buy rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $36.25 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $32.60.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 1.7 %

EPRT opened at $32.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.68. The company has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.37. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $20.49 and a 1 year high of $34.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 4.90 and a current ratio of 4.90.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $109.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.99 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.28% and a net margin of 48.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 27,817 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was 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 $14,421,637.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,377,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,079 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,931,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543,346 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 7.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,697,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,904,000 after acquiring an additional 187,256 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,575,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,372,000 after purchasing an additional 264,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,966,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,486,000 after purchasing an additional 169,222 shares in the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.