Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Wells Fargo & Company

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

EPRT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $36.25 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.57.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of EPRT stock opened at $24.86 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.07. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $24.62 and a 52 week high of $34.73. The stock has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.82. 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 (NYSE:EPRT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $168.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.17 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.34% and a net margin of 43.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is 99.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.22, for a total value of $708,840.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,100,892.96. This trade represents a 39.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essential Properties Realty Trust

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EPRT. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 47.8% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 273.6% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 79.3% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 100.6% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416 shares during the period. 96.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE:EPRT) is an internally managed real estate investment trust that acquires, owns and manages single-tenant commercial properties. The company primarily leases these properties to middle-market businesses under long-term, net lease agreements, which generally require tenants to pay a substantial portion of the property’s operating expenses, including taxes, insurance and maintenance.

EPRT’s portfolio is diversified across businesses such as automotive services, medical services, restaurants, retail, early childhood education and other service-oriented industries.