Swiss National Bank Increases Stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 342,200 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 8,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.20% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $11,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,575,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,372,000 after purchasing an additional 264,052 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 9.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,966,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,486,000 after buying an additional 169,222 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5,380.1% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,881,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,149,000 after buying an additional 1,847,618 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,712,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,492,000 after buying an additional 66,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,506,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,456,000 after acquiring an additional 83,565 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 27,817 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $899,323.61. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,076 shares in the company, valued at $14,421,637.08. This represents a 5.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EPRT shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $36.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.37.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

EPRT stock opened at $33.47 on Friday. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.42 and a twelve month high of $34.51. The firm has a market cap of $5.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.46. The company has a quick ratio of 5.59, a current ratio of 5.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $117.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.73 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 46.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Analysts predict that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.87%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Profile

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.