Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 42,608 Shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT)

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) by 48.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,419 shares of the company’s stock after selling 42,608 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust were worth $1,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 11.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,575,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,372,000 after purchasing an additional 264,052 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Essential Properties Realty Trust by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,966,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,486,000 after buying an additional 169,222 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5,380.1% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,881,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,149,000 after buying an additional 1,847,618 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 29.2% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,646,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,631,000 after acquiring an additional 372,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,506,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,456,000 after acquiring an additional 83,565 shares in the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on EPRT. 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 for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Essential Properties Realty Trust from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.44.

Insider Transactions at Essential Properties Realty Trust

In other news, CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 27,817 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $899,323.61. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 446,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,421,637.08. This trade represents a 5.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of EPRT opened at $33.82 on Tuesday. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.42 and a 52 week high of $34.51. The firm has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 5.59 and a current ratio of 5.59.

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.27 EPS 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%. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.87%.

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.