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

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.06), 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $158.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of EPRT opened at $24.86 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 8.17 and a current ratio of 8.17. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $24.62 and a 52 week high of $34.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.82.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 14th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 99.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EPRT. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, October 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $32.50 price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 34,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,100,892.96. This represents a 39.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.77% of the stock is currently 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.