Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,152 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,309 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust were worth $1,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,377,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $676,561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,079 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,575,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,372,000 after purchasing an additional 264,052 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,966,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,486,000 after purchasing an additional 169,222 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5,380.1% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,881,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,149,000 after buying an additional 1,847,618 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 29.2% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,646,742 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,631,000 after purchasing an additional 372,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EPRT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush assumed coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $36.25 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 27,817 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $899,323.61. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,421,637.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

Essential Properties Realty Trust stock opened at $33.30 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 5.59 and a current ratio of 5.59. The stock has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.96, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.37. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.32 and a fifty-two week high of $34.51.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.16). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 46.00% and a return on equity of 6.20%. The company had revenue of $117.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.87%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Company 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.