Raymond James Financial Inc. Sells 68,111 Shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. $EPRT

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 9.9%, now holding approximately 0.31% of the company, worth about $20.15 million.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.9%, which reflects a boost from its previous dividend.
• Essential Properties Realty Trust's stock opened at $31.14, with a market cap of $6.17 billion, missing quarterly earnings expectations by $0.01 per share.

Raymond James Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) by 9.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 617,248 shares of the company's stock after selling 68,111 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.31% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $20,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $994,000 after acquiring an additional 10,420 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 3.3% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 53,128 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised 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 acquiring an additional 14,032 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 44.9% during the first quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 238,909 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,798,000 after acquiring an additional 73,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 10.7% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 87,962 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 8,510 shares in the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on EPRT. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.34.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP A Joseph Peil sold 13,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.96, for a total value of $435,961.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 76,590 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,524,406.40. This trade represents 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 through this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

EPRT stock traded up $0.22 on Friday, reaching $31.31. 1,012,856 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,303,854. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.44 and a 12 month high of $34.88. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $31.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a PEG ratio of 2.41 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its 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). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 44.48%.The company had revenue of $129.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.72 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The company's revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Essential Properties Realty Trust has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.860-1.890 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.