Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) Competitors

Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) and American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Is ESRT or AAT a better dividend stock?

Empire State Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. American Assets Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Empire State Realty Trust pays out 58.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Assets Trust pays out 117.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Assets Trust has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. American Assets Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ESRT or AAT?

67.1% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.4% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.6% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 36.8% of American Assets Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer ESRT or AAT?

In the previous week, American Assets Trust had 2 more articles in the media than Empire State Realty Trust. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for American Assets Trust and 9 mentions for Empire State Realty Trust. American Assets Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.79 beat Empire State Realty Trust's score of 1.70 indicating that American Assets Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Empire State Realty Trust	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
American Assets Trust	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, ESRT or AAT?

American Assets Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Empire State Realty Trust. American Assets Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Empire State Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Empire State Realty Trust	$767.92M	1.68	$51.64M	$0.24	31.73
American Assets Trust	$457.86M	2.79	$72.82M	$1.16	17.99

Do analysts prefer ESRT or AAT?

Empire State Realty Trust currently has a consensus price target of $10.43, indicating a potential upside of 37.01%. American Assets Trust has a consensus price target of $20.50, indicating a potential downside of 1.76%. Given Empire State Realty Trust's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Empire State Realty Trust is more favorable than American Assets Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Empire State Realty Trust	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
American Assets Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has more risk and volatility, ESRT or AAT?

Empire State Realty Trust has a beta of 1.7, suggesting that its stock price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Assets Trust has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is ESRT or AAT more profitable?

American Assets Trust has a net margin of 16.26% compared to Empire State Realty Trust's net margin of 5.67%. American Assets Trust's return on equity of 6.47% beat Empire State Realty Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Empire State Realty Trust	5.67%	2.45%	1.02%
American Assets Trust	16.26%	6.47%	2.34%

Summary

American Assets Trust beats Empire State Realty Trust on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.