Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 929,267 EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 929,267 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $41,148,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in EPR Properties by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 685,542 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,356,000 after acquiring an additional 12,425 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its position in shares of EPR Properties by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 151,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,728,000 after purchasing an additional 18,127 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of EPR Properties during the 4th quarter worth $281,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in EPR Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $944,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in EPR Properties by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,085,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,086,000 after buying an additional 334,943 shares in the last quarter. 74.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at EPR Properties

In other EPR Properties news, SVP Gwendolyn Mary Johnson sold 3,900 shares of EPR Properties stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.02, for a total value of $210,678.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,216 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,828.32. The trade was a 32.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Tonya L. Mater sold 3,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.90, for a total value of $161,928.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 46,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,430,321.30. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,520 shares of company stock valued at $502,581. 2.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on EPR Properties from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of EPR Properties from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of EPR Properties from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of EPR Properties from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

EPR Properties Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:EPR opened at $46.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 7.81 and a quick ratio of 7.81. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.26 and a beta of 1.72. EPR Properties has a 1-year low of $39.66 and a 1-year high of $54.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.49.

EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.56. EPR Properties had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 28.87%. The firm had revenue of $149.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.25 million. Sell-side analysts predict that EPR Properties will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

EPR Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.295 dividend. This represents a $3.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.56%. This is a positive change from EPR Properties’s previous monthly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. EPR Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 221.25%.

EPR Properties Company Profile

EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) is the leading diversified experiential net lease real estate investment trust (REIT), specializing in select enduring experiential properties in the real estate industry. We focus on real estate venues that create value by facilitating out of home leisure and recreation experiences where consumers choose to spend their discretionary time and money.