Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (EPRT) – What Are Investment Firms Thinking About This Stock?

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.20.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, September 21st.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE EPRT opened at $25.33 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.36. The company has a quick ratio of 8.17, a current ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 12-month low of $24.62 and a 12-month high of $34.73.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $161.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.65 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 6.34%. The business’s revenue was up 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. Essential Properties Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.010-2.050 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 99.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.22, for a total value of $708,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,100,892.96. The trade was a 39.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth $5,538,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,629,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 111.6% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 18,611,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,031,000 after acquiring an additional 9,816,042 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at about $16,406,000. Finally, Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,603,000. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages a diversified portfolio of single-tenant commercial properties. The company generally leases its properties to businesses under long-term, triple-net agreements, under which tenants are typically responsible for property taxes, insurance and maintenance expenses.

Essential Properties focuses primarily on service-oriented and experience-based businesses, including automotive services, health and fitness, medical and dental services, restaurants, early childhood education and other businesses that are often less suited to traditional retail real estate.