Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) Declares $0.29 Quarterly Dividend

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 9th, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.29 per share on Friday, October 11th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th.

Essential Properties Realty Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 6.4% annually over the last three years. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 91.3% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Essential Properties Realty Trust to earn $1.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 63.4%.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of EPRT stock traded down $0.09 on Tuesday, hitting $32.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,127,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,355,463. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 4.90 and a quick ratio of 4.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.15 and a 200 day moving average of $27.63. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a 12-month low of $20.49 and a 12-month high of $32.56. The stock has a market cap of $5.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.37.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $109.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $102.99 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.28% and a net margin of 48.12%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s quarterly revenue was up 26.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In related news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 1,200 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total value of $33,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 513,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,371,392. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 27,817 shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total value of $899,323.61. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,421,637.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $33,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 513,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,371,392. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,592 shares of company stock worth $1,863,808. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on EPRT. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wedbush started coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Essential Properties Realty Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.73.

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.