1,743,929 Shares in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. $EPRT Purchased by Bank of America Corp DE

Key Points

• Bank of America acquired 1,743,929 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the second quarter, valued at approximately $52.1 million and representing about 0.81% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 96.98% of EPRT.
• EPRT exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.34 in EPS versus a $0.33 estimate and $161.9 million in revenue, up 18.1% year over year. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $35.84.
• The REIT declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, equal to $1.28 annually and a 4.8% yield, though its dividend payout ratio remains high at 99.22%.

Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,743,929 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $52,056,000. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.81% of Essential Properties Realty Trust as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,183,153,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 111.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 18,611,967 shares of the company's stock valued at $552,031,000 after buying an additional 9,816,042 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4,681.4% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,997,593 shares of the company's stock valued at $118,569,000 after buying an additional 3,913,986 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,467,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,164,000. Institutional investors own 96.98% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 34,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,100,892.96. The trade was a 39.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EPRT shares. Scotiabank upgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $34.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $36.25 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.84.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EPRT opened at $26.70 on Monday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.12. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.47 and a fifty-two week high of $34.73. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.85.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $161.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.65 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. Essential Properties Realty Trust'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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company 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 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.22%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Profile

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.

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