American Century Companies Inc. Buys 334,943 Shares of EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) by 44.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,085,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 334,943 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in EPR Properties were worth $48,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EPR. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in EPR Properties during the fourth quarter worth about $302,313,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in EPR Properties by 304.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 457,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,442,000 after acquiring an additional 344,544 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in EPR Properties during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,145,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in EPR Properties by 35.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 673,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,010,000 after purchasing an additional 177,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in EPR Properties by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,145,267 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,712,000 after purchasing an additional 60,953 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other EPR Properties news, SVP Brian Andrew Moriarty sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $129,975.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $795,395.01. The trade was a 14.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Tonya L. Mater sold 3,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.90, for a total value of $161,928.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 46,827 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,430,321.30. This represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,520 shares of company stock valued at $502,581 in the last three months. 2.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of EPR Properties from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on EPR Properties from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on EPR Properties from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on EPR Properties from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

EPR Properties Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:EPR opened at $51.81 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.35. EPR Properties has a 52-week low of $39.66 and a 52-week high of $54.25. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 7.81 and a current ratio of 7.81.

EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.56. EPR Properties had a net margin of 28.87% and a return on equity of 8.22%. The company had revenue of $149.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.25 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that EPR Properties will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

EPR Properties Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This is a positive change from EPR Properties’s previous monthly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $3.54 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. EPR Properties’s payout ratio is presently 221.25%.

About EPR Properties

EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) is the leading diversified experiential net lease real estate investment trust (REIT), specializing in select enduring experiential properties in the real estate industry. We focus on real estate venues that create value by facilitating out of home leisure and recreation experiences where consumers choose to spend their discretionary time and money.