Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from eleven brokerages, with nine analysts advising a buy and two a hold.
• Recent price targets for EPRT have been adjusted, with Stifel Nicolaus lowering its objective from $36.00 to $35.50 and UBS raising theirs from $36.00 to $38.00.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.30 payable on October 14th, representing an annual yield of 4.1%, with a high payout ratio of 101.69%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.1818.

A number of brokerages recently commented on EPRT. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $35.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Monday, September 15th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Properties Realty Trust

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 51.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 30,653 shares of the company's stock worth $994,000 after purchasing an additional 10,420 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 53,128 shares of the company's stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,693 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 129,532 shares of the company's stock worth $4,228,000 after purchasing an additional 14,032 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $38,008,000 after purchasing an additional 33,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 44.9% during the 1st quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 238,909 shares of the company's stock worth $7,798,000 after purchasing an additional 73,994 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock opened at $29.51 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 5.67 and a current ratio of 5.67. The company has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.08. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a one year low of $27.44 and a one year high of $34.88.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $129.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $131.72 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 44.48% and a return on equity of 6.20%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Essential Properties Realty Trust has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.860-1.890 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust's dividend 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.

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