Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Stock Position Decreased by Millennium Management LLC

Millennium Management LLC lowered its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,233,288 shares of the company's stock after selling 25,086 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.70% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $38,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,651,728 shares of the company's stock valued at $145,506,000 after buying an additional 1,178,284 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,422,710 shares of the company's stock valued at $138,342,000 after buying an additional 284,036 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,948,952 shares of the company's stock valued at $92,246,000 after buying an additional 469,610 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,872,955 shares of the company's stock valued at $89,866,000 after buying an additional 43,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at about $83,341,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EPRT. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. B. Riley cut shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $29.50 to $33.50 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $37.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Capital One Financial assumed coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.54, for a total value of $406,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 178,785 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,817,663.90. The trade was a 6.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of EPRT traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $31.88. The company had a trading volume of 1,107,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,431,637. The stock has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.95. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.07 and a fifty-two week high of $34.88. The company has a current ratio of 5.36, a quick ratio of 5.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.01). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 45.15%. The firm had revenue of $129.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $124.88 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Essential Properties Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 102.61%.

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.