Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Price Target Raised to $33.00

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) had its target price raised by Raymond James from $28.00 to $33.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on EPRT. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They issued a buy rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $31.25 to $32.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $31.12.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE EPRT opened at $31.62 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.90, a current ratio of 4.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.35. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $20.49 and a fifty-two week high of $31.78. The business has a fifty day moving average of $29.07 and a 200-day moving average of $26.98.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.13). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 48.12% and a return on equity of 6.28%. The firm had revenue of $109.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This is an increase from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 513,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,371,392. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 12,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $356,317.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,030,472.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $33,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 513,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,371,392. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 34,775 shares of company stock valued at $964,484. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essential Properties Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 409.2% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 241,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,435,000 after acquiring an additional 193,979 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,377,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,561,000 after buying an additional 1,060,079 shares during the last quarter. Hazelview Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 112.9% during the first quarter. Hazelview Securities Inc. now owns 867,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,731,000 after buying an additional 460,065 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 51.0% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 281,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,530,000 after buying an additional 94,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC boosted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC now owns 1,048,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,794,000 after acquiring an additional 56,990 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

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.