Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Reaches New 1-Year Low - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Essential Properties Realty Trust shares fell to a new 52-week low of $25.77, trading below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Despite the decline, analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $35.75, implying substantial upside from current levels.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, representing a 4.9% annualized yield; however, the payout ratio is high at 99.22%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $25.77 and last traded at $25.7950, with a volume of 30575 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.27.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on EPRT. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings cut Essential Properties Realty Trust from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Monday, September 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Properties Realty Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $35.75.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Down 1.3%

The company has a current ratio of 8.17, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.75.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $161.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.65 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.34% and a net margin of 43.51%.Essential Properties Realty Trust's revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. Essential Properties Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.010-2.050 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Essential Properties Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.22, for a total transaction of $708,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 34,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,100,892.96. The trade was a 39.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essential Properties Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 899 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 47.8% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,339 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 664.4% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,590 shares of the company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 273.6% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,614 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.98% of the company's stock.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages a diversified portfolio of single-tenant commercial properties. The company generally leases its properties to businesses under long-term, triple-net agreements, under which tenants are typically responsible for property taxes, insurance and maintenance expenses.

Essential Properties focuses primarily on service-oriented and experience-based businesses, including automotive services, health and fitness, medical and dental services, restaurants, early childhood education and other businesses that are often less suited to traditional retail real estate.

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