Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) shares hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $25.37 and last traded at $25.4060, with a volume of 196101 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EPRT. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Monday, September 21st. 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 report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $35.20.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.50. The company has a quick ratio of 8.17, a current ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.01. The business 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter 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, analysts forecast that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently 99.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief operating officer owned 34,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,100,892.96. This trade represents a 39.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EPRT. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 13.6% during the third quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 33,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $865,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Pensionfund PDN lifted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 13.2% during the third quarter. Pensionfund PDN now owns 68,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,768,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 100.6% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 74,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,220,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 8,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 1,187 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Company Profile

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.