Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Stock Position Lifted by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 5.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,881,822 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,956 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.95% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $61,423,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franchise Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the first quarter valued at $42,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 439.4% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 1st quarter worth about $80,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $100,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 44.6% in the 4th quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 3,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EPRT. Barclays reduced their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.90.

Insider Activity at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In related news, VP A Joseph Peil sold 13,227 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.96, for a total transaction of $435,961.92. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 76,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,524,406.40. The trade was a 14.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Price Performance

Essential Properties Realty Trust stock opened at $30.52 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.66. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $27.44 and a one year high of $34.88. The company has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a PE ratio of 25.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 5.67 and a quick ratio of 5.67.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $129.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.72 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 44.48% and a return on equity of 6.20%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 14th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 101.69%.

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.