Insider Selling: Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Director Sells $406,750.00 in Stock

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 12,500 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.54, for a total transaction of $406,750.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 178,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,817,663.90. This trade represents 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.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of EPRT stock opened at $32.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.40. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $23.58 and a fifty-two week high of $34.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.30.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its quarterly 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. This is a boost from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 103.51%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EPRT. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 95.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 74.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 1,834.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 215.4% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on EPRT shares. B. Riley downgraded shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $29.50 to $33.50 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank lowered their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.48.

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.