Essex Property Trust (ESS) Competitors

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of ESS or AMH?

96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.9% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of American Homes 4 Rent shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate ESS or AMH?

Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus target price of $302.86, indicating a potential upside of 18.15%. American Homes 4 Rent has a consensus target price of $40.97, indicating a potential upside of 18.40%. Given American Homes 4 Rent's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe American Homes 4 Rent is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essex Property Trust	1 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.32
American Homes 4 Rent	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Is ESS or AMH a better dividend stock?

Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $10.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. American Homes 4 Rent pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Essex Property Trust pays out 82.6% 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 Homes 4 Rent pays out 108.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years and American Homes 4 Rent has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Essex Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is ESS or AMH more profitable?

Essex Property Trust has a net margin of 43.51% compared to American Homes 4 Rent's net margin of 23.72%. Essex Property Trust's return on equity of 13.98% beat American Homes 4 Rent's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essex Property Trust	43.51%	13.98%	6.16%
American Homes 4 Rent	23.72%	5.60%	3.29%

Which has better valuation & earnings, ESS or AMH?

Essex Property Trust has higher revenue and earnings than American Homes 4 Rent. Essex Property Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Homes 4 Rent, 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
Essex Property Trust	$1.77B	9.30	$741.52M	$12.44	20.61
American Homes 4 Rent	$1.73B	7.42	$412.43M	$1.11	31.17

Which has more volatility & risk, ESS or AMH?

Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Homes 4 Rent has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer ESS or AMH?

In the previous week, Essex Property Trust had 20 more articles in the media than American Homes 4 Rent. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Essex Property Trust and 16 mentions for American Homes 4 Rent. Essex Property Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat American Homes 4 Rent's score of 1.16 indicating that Essex Property Trust is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Essex Property Trust	21 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Homes 4 Rent	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats American Homes 4 Rent on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.