BUZZ-Essential Properties shares fall after announcing a $450 million convertible bond issuance plan

October 27 - ** As Essential Properties Realty Trust seeks to raise funds, its EPRT.N stock fell 4.5% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, at $25.95

** The Princeton, New Jersey-based commercial net lease REIT privately issued $450 million in exchangeable notes (link), which will mature on January 15, 2032

** The company plans to use the net proceeds from the issuance to pay the cost of “capped call options transactions” to mitigate potential equity dilution and to repay its revolving credit facility

** The company has a market capitalization of about $6 billion

** On Wednesday evening, EPRT slightly raised (link) its 2026 per-share adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) guidance from $2.01–$2.05 to $2.02–$2.05, stating its third quarter results benefited from portfolio performance and momentum in its project development platform; boosted by this news, EPRT shares closed up 5.5% at $26.26 on Thursday

** As of Monday’s close, the stock had fallen 8.4% year-to-date, underperforming the S&P 600 Real Estate Investment Trust Index’s 10.6% gain .SPSMCREC

** According to data from London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), 17 out of 19 analysts rate EPRT as “strong buy” or “buy”, and 2 rate it as “hold”; the median target price has been lowered from $37 a month ago to $32.75

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