T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. $EPRT

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 0.8%, owning approximately 4.96 million shares, valued at about $161.98 million.
• Multiple brokerages have updated their price targets for Essential Properties Realty Trust, with Barclays lowering its target to $36.00 while UBS raised it to $38.00, reflecting a positive outlook overall.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, with a dividend yield of 3.9%, indicating its commitment to returning value to shareholders despite a payout ratio exceeding 100%.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,962,740 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 41,230 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 2.51% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $161,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franchise Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust in the first quarter worth $42,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 439.4% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,451 shares of the company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 1st quarter worth $80,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 1st quarter worth $92,000. Finally, GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $100,000. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on EPRT. Barclays reduced 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 note on Monday, July 21st. Scotiabank lifted 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 research report on Monday, May 12th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other news, VP A Joseph Peil sold 13,227 shares of the business'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. 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 is available through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE:EPRT opened at $31.0850 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $6.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.62. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.44 and a twelve month high of $34.88.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.46 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 business had revenue of $129.11 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This is a positive change from Essential Properties Realty Trust's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Essential Properties Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.69%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Company 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.

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