Captrust Financial Advisors Acquires New Shares in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 7,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EPRT. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 29.2% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,646,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,631,000 after purchasing an additional 372,040 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 244.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 427,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,958,000 after purchasing an additional 303,057 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 26.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 244,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,347,000 after purchasing an additional 51,196 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 33.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,503,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,491,000 after purchasing an additional 621,445 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 1.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,138,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,336,000 after purchasing an additional 76,475 shares during the period. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock opened at $32.90 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 5.59, a quick ratio of 5.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50-day moving average of $33.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.14. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.58 and a 12-month high of $34.88. The stock has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EPRT. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.77.

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.