Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Shares Bought by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) by 51.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,062,006 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,410,278 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 3.58% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $230,504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EPRT. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,224,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,085,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,966,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $912,825,000 after buying an additional 870,486 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $21,438,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 163.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 963,055 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,124,000 after buying an additional 597,293 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. UBS Group boosted 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 report on Friday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP A Joseph Peil sold 13,227 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.96, for a total transaction of $435,961.92. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 76,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,524,406.40. The trade was a 14.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.77% of the company's stock.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

EPRT traded up $0.10 on Friday, reaching $30.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,633,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,687,245. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.44 and a 12-month high of $34.88. The company has a current ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 5.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business's 50-day moving average price is $31.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.64. The company has a market cap of $6.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.07.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.01). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 44.48% and a return on equity of 6.20%. The company had revenue of $129.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 14th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This is a boost from Essential Properties Realty Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Essential Properties Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.