Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Reaches New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $30.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Essential Properties Realty Trust traded as low as $26.58 and last traded at $26.56, with a volume of 414982 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.79.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on EPRT. Wall Street Zen upgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In related news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 34,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,100,892.96. The trade was a 39.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Essential Properties Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter worth $1,183,153,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 111.6% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 18,611,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $552,031,000 after buying an additional 9,816,042 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4,681.4% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,997,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $118,569,000 after buying an additional 3,913,986 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth about $68,467,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Essential Properties Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $52,056,000. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Down 0.7%

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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.85.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.01. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 43.51% and a return on equity of 6.34%. The company had revenue of $161.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Essential Properties Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.010-2.050 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 99.22%.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE:EPRT) is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages a diversified portfolio of single-tenant commercial properties across the United States. The company primarily invests in properties leased to middle-market businesses operating in service-oriented and experience-based industries.

Essential Properties generally leases its properties under long-term, triple-net agreements. Under these arrangements, tenants are typically responsible for property-level expenses such as maintenance, insurance and real estate taxes.