Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Receives $36.20 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.2045.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $36.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 0.0%

EPRT stock opened at $28.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.31. The company has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.85. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $28.61 and a twelve month high of $34.73. The company has a current ratio of 8.17, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 6.34%. The firm had revenue of $161.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Essential Properties Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.010-2.050 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 34,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,100,892.96. This trade represents a 39.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Essential Properties Realty Trust

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanderbilt University raised its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 36,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 47.8% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 21.1% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,740 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, GSI Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. GSI Capital Advisors LLC now owns 147,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,380,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE:EPRT) is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages a diversified portfolio of single-tenant commercial properties across the United States. The company primarily invests in properties leased to middle-market businesses operating in service-oriented and experience-based industries.

Essential Properties generally leases its properties under long-term, triple-net agreements. Under these arrangements, tenants are typically responsible for property-level expenses such as maintenance, insurance and real estate taxes.