Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.18 EPS

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

EPRT traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $24.86. The stock had a trading volume of 3,006,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,065,663. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.11. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $24.62 and a 1 year high of $34.73. The stock has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 8.17, a current ratio of 8.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, COO Robert M. Jenkins sold 22,000 shares of the company’s 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on EPRT shares. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Monday, September 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock 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 reduced their target price for the company from $38.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.