Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stake in Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,829,776 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 141,612 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.61% of Essential Properties Realty Trust worth $96,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 6.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 88,838 shares of the company's stock worth $2,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,672 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust during the first quarter worth $290,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 31.4% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 157,731 shares of the company's stock worth $4,205,000 after purchasing an additional 37,729 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 116.4% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,945 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 19.0% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 23,312 shares of the company's stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 3,722 shares during the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Price Performance

EPRT traded up $0.35 on Wednesday, reaching $34.31. 799,682 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,325,851. The stock has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a PE ratio of 29.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.37. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.42 and a twelve month high of $34.72. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $33.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 5.59 and a quick ratio of 5.59.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $117.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.73 million. Essential Properties Realty Trust had a net margin of 46.00% and a return on equity of 6.20%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. Essential Properties Realty Trust's payout ratio is 100.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 27,817 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $14,421,637.08. This represents a 5.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EPRT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $32.00 to $36.25 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $33.44.

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.