Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.18 EPS

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 net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 6.34%. The company had revenue of $168.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $158.17 million.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NYSE EPRT traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $24.86. 3,006,276 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,065,665. The company has a quick ratio of 8.17, a current ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.11. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $24.62 and a 12 month high of $34.73.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 99.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EPRT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Monday, September 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust 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 value of $708,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.