Nuveen Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,402,983 shares of the company's stock after selling 117,089 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 0.80% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $43,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 118.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 297,989 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,176,000 after purchasing an additional 161,697 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 145.4% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 17,272 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 74.5% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,096 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,411 shares of the company's stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 3,334 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,750 shares of the company's stock worth $242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,940 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Capital One Financial assumed coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday. B. Riley downgraded shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $29.50 to $33.50 in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.91.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of EPRT stock traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $31.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,107,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,434,022. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.07 and a twelve month high of $34.88. The firm has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.97, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 5.36, a quick ratio of 5.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.96.

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

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.54, for a total transaction of $406,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.