Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Increases Dividend to $0.30 Per Share

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, June 2nd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share on Monday, July 14th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. This is a 1.7% increase from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

Essential Properties Realty Trust has raised its dividend by an average of 5.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 6 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. 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 Price Performance

Shares of EPRT stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.99. 438,368 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,596,336. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $26.75 and a twelve month high of $34.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 5.36 and a current ratio of 5.36.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 45.15% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The firm had revenue of $129.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $124.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EPRT. Capital One Financial began coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Scotiabank upped their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $29.50 to $33.50 in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.91.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,387,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,279,000 after buying an additional 195,057 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 159.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 74,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 45,561 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 1st quarter worth $2,350,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 21.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 22,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.