HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 24.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,501 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,322 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust were worth $473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 95.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 6,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 8.2% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 7.8% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 10,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 772 shares during the period. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of EPRT opened at $31.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 5.59 and a quick ratio of 5.59. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.23. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.58 and a 1-year high of $34.88. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.38.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by ($0.16). Essential Properties Realty Trust had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 46.00%. The company had revenue of $117.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.73 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. This is a positive change from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s payout ratio is presently 102.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays started coverage on Essential Properties Realty Trust in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $35.94 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $36.25 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.91.

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.