Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (EPRT) will raise its quarterly dividend by another 4.5 percent to $0.23 per share in 2019. This brings the total dividend increase in 2019 to 9.5 percent. Last year the REIT initiated a quarterly dividend.

The next dividend is payable on January 15, 2020 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on December 31, 2019. A new annual rate of 92 cents yields 3.7% at a stock price of $25.

As of September 30, 2019, the Company’s portfolio consisted of 917 freestanding net lease properties with a weighted average lease term of 14.4 years and a weighted average rent coverage ratio of 2.9x. As of the same date, the Company’s portfolio was 100.0% leased to 199 tenants operating 233 different concepts in 16 industries across 45 states (source: Essential Properties press release December 9, 2019).

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. is an internally managed real estate company that acquires, owns and manages primarily single-tenant properties that are net leased on a long-term basis to companies operating service-oriented or experience-based businesses. Essential Properties Realty Trust became a public company in 2018 and paid its first quarterly dividend later that year.