Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) PT Raised to $34.00

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) had its price objective upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $31.00 to $34.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on EPRT. Wedbush began coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They set an outperform rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI downgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and upped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They set a buy rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank upped their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $31.25 to $32.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $31.65.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Price Performance

NYSE EPRT opened at $31.57 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.12. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $20.49 and a 52-week high of $32.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 4.90 and a current ratio of 4.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.67, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.35.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.13). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.28% and a net margin of 48.12%. The firm had revenue of $109.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.99 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This is an increase from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 513,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,371,392. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 20,863 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.54, for a total transaction of $574,567.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 514,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,168,338.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $33,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 513,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,371,392. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,775 shares of company stock valued at $964,484 in the last quarter. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the fourth quarter worth $48,312,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5,380.1% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,881,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,618 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,931,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543,346 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,377,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $676,561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,079 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management US Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the second quarter worth $21,274,000. Institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

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.