Voya Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. $EPRT

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. by 68.8% during the first quarter, selling over 121,000 shares.
• Invesco Ltd. significantly increased its stake by 51.8%, now owning over 7 million shares, which highlights a trend of institutional investment in EPRT.
• Several analysts have upgraded their ratings and target prices for EPRT, with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $35.18.

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) by 68.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,202 shares of the company's stock after selling 121,553 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust were worth $1,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EPRT. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 51.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,062,006 shares of the company's stock worth $230,504,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410,278 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the first quarter worth approximately $59,546,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 66.1% during the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,959,948 shares of the company's stock worth $96,613,000 after buying an additional 1,178,238 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the first quarter worth approximately $37,224,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 3.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,966,449 shares of the company's stock worth $912,825,000 after acquiring an additional 870,486 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on EPRT shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $34.00 to $36.00 in a report on Monday, September 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $35.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.18.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

NYSE EPRT opened at $30.09 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $30.60 and a 200-day moving average of $31.42. The company has a current ratio of 5.67, a quick ratio of 5.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.44 and a 1-year 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 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 company earned $0.47 earnings per share. Essential Properties Realty Trust'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. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust's payout ratio is presently 101.69%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EPRT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.