Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Issues Earnings Results

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.18, Zacks reports. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.34% and a net margin of 43.51%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock traded down $0.90 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $24.86. 3,006,201 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,065,663. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $24.62 and a 12 month high of $34.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a current ratio of 8.17. The company has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.22, for a total value 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. This represents a 39.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $38.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.57.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE:EPRT) is an internally managed real estate investment trust that acquires, owns and manages single-tenant commercial properties. The company primarily leases these properties to middle-market businesses under long-term, net lease agreements, which generally require tenants to pay a substantial portion of the property’s operating expenses, including taxes, insurance and maintenance.

EPRT’s portfolio is diversified across businesses such as automotive services, medical services, restaurants, retail, early childhood education and other service-oriented industries.