Insider Selling: Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) CEO Sells 20,863 Shares of Stock

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) CEO Peter M. Mavoides sold 20,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.54, for a total transaction of $574,567.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 514,464 shares in the company, valued at $14,168,338.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EPRT traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.85. 449,678 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,393,399. Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.49 and a 1 year high of $28.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 7.61 and a current ratio of 7.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $27.09 and a 200 day moving average of $25.91.

Essential Properties Realty Trust Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. This is a positive change from Essential Properties Realty Trust’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Essential Properties Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Essential Properties Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EPRT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 4.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,377,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $676,561,000 after buying an additional 1,060,079 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,931,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,543,346 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 31.4% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,305,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,534 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 7.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,697,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,904,000 after purchasing an additional 187,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,614,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,947,000 after purchasing an additional 393,041 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on EPRT shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $25.00 to $28.50 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho boosted 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. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust in a report on Friday, May 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Essential Properties Realty Trust from $27.00 to $27.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Essential Properties Realty Trust has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

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.