Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $21.44 Million in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 685,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,438,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EPRT. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 74.5% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,096 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 1,834.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 215.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 275.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter worth $79,000. Institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Capital One Financial assumed coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $29.50 to $33.50 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.48.

Insider Transactions at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In related news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.54, for a total transaction of $406,750.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 178,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,817,663.90. This trade represents a 6.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Up 4.0 %

Essential Properties Realty Trust stock opened at $31.75 on Monday. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $24.72 and a one year high of $34.88. The stock has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 5.36 and a current ratio of 5.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.39.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.14. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.12% and a net margin of 45.15%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 103.51%.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

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.