Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Lowers Position in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,613,911 shares of the company’s stock after selling 13,922 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust were worth $81,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 224,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,038,000 after acquiring an additional 65,627 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 312,661 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,770,000 after purchasing an additional 14,691 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 196.0% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 870,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,223,000 after purchasing an additional 576,313 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 222.8% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 97,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,047,000 after purchasing an additional 67,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC lifted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 31,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 30,000 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.99, for a total transaction of $959,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 218,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,998,932.15. This trade represents a 12.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EPRT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. B. Riley downgraded Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $29.50 to $33.50 in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.91.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of EPRT opened at $31.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 5.36 and a quick ratio of 5.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.67 and a 200 day moving average of $32.08. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.06 and a 1-year high of $34.88.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $129.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $124.88 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 45.15% and a return on equity of 6.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 102.61%.

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.