M&G PLC Makes New Investment in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. $EPRT

M&G PLC bought a new stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 12.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 129,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,228,000 after purchasing an additional 14,032 shares during the period. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $274,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,164,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,008,000 after buying an additional 33,903 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,394,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,502,000 after buying an additional 160,772 shares during the period. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 169,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,542,000 after buying an additional 19,065 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EPRT has been the subject of a number of research reports. 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 report on Monday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $36.00 price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $36.00 in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.46.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of EPRT opened at $30.78 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.06. The company has a quick ratio of 5.66, a current ratio of 5.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.44 and a 52 week high of $34.88. The stock has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.83, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48. The company had revenue of $144.93 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.42 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.38% and a net margin of 45.25%.The firm’s revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. Essential Properties Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.040 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 1.870-1.890 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.77%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Profile

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.