Arizona State Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,293 shares of the company’s stock after selling 591 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust were worth $1,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 51.5% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 30,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $994,000 after purchasing an additional 10,420 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 53,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,734,000 after buying an additional 1,693 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 409,365 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,805,000 after buying an additional 111,376 shares during the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 238,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,798,000 after buying an additional 73,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 94,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,946,000 after buying an additional 26,234 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP A Joseph Peil sold 13,227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.96, for a total value of $435,961.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 76,590 shares in the company, valued at $2,524,406.40. This trade represents a 14.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.98.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock opened at $30.49 on Friday. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.44 and a 52 week high of $34.88. The company has a quick ratio of 7.76, a current ratio of 7.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.77. The company has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a PE ratio of 26.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.08.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last posted 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). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.13% and a net margin of 44.62%. The firm had revenue of $129.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $124.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s quarterly revenue was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This is a boost from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.35%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Profile

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.