Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.13 EPS

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.13), Zacks reports. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 51.34% and a return on equity of 6.56%. The business had revenue of $109.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s quarterly revenue was up 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. Essential Properties Realty Trust updated its FY 2024 guidance to 1.720-1.750 EPS.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Price Performance

Essential Properties Realty Trust stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $29.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,095,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,374,305. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $20.49 and a 1 year high of $31.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 7.61 and a quick ratio of 7.61. The company has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.35.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This is a boost from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EPRT. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI cut shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $32.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $31.25 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.09, for a total value of $677,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 247,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,704,558.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Essential Properties Realty Trust news, Director Stephen D. Sautel sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.09, for a total value of $677,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 247,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,704,558.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 12,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.03, for a total transaction of $356,317.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 500,552 shares in the company, valued at $14,030,472.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 59,775 shares of company stock valued at $1,641,734. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.