Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Stock Has Average Price Target of $32.96

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.96.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Monday, September 21st. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of 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. Weiss Ratings cut Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 26th.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:EPRT opened at $26.74 on Friday. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a fifty-two week low of $24.62 and a fifty-two week high of $34.73. The company has a quick ratio of 4.94, a current ratio of 4.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $168.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $158.17 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 5.95% and a net margin of 41.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 104.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Properties Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EPRT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,183,153,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 6.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,101,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,151,000 after purchasing an additional 184,196 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 3.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,771,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,156,000 after purchasing an additional 103,311 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the second quarter worth $52,056,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the second quarter worth $51,164,000. Institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

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.