Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Sets New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $28.81 and last traded at $28.8910, with a volume of 166431 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $29.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EPRT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $36.25 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.20.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a current ratio of 8.17. The company has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $31.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.37.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $161.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.65 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In related news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.22, for a total transaction of $708,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,100,892.96. This represents a 39.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EPRT. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $1,183,153,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 111.6% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 18,611,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,031,000 after purchasing an additional 9,816,042 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,131,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,488,000 after purchasing an additional 843,877 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,844,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,670,000 after purchasing an additional 421,364 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 2,970.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 7,296,773 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,809,000 after purchasing an additional 7,059,105 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.