ESS vs. MAA, SUI, ELS, UDR, CPT, EQR, AVB, HST, AMH, and VTR
Should you be buying Essex Property Trust stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Essex Property Trust include Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA), Sun Communities (SUI), Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS), UDR (UDR), Camden Property Trust (CPT), Equity Residential (EQR), AvalonBay Communities (AVB), Host Hotels & Resorts (HST), American Homes 4 Rent (AMH), and Ventas (VTR). These companies are all part of the "real estate investment trusts" industry.
Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) and Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.
93.4% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Essex Property Trust had 8 more articles in the media than Mid-America Apartment Communities. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Essex Property Trust and 5 mentions for Mid-America Apartment Communities. Essex Property Trust's average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat Mid-America Apartment Communities' score of 0.61 indicating that Mid-America Apartment Communities is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Essex Property Trust received 212 more outperform votes than Mid-America Apartment Communities when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.00% of users gave Mid-America Apartment Communities an outperform vote while only 57.20% of users gave Essex Property Trust an outperform vote.
Mid-America Apartment Communities has a net margin of 25.73% compared to Mid-America Apartment Communities' net margin of 24.31%. Essex Property Trust's return on equity of 8.74% beat Mid-America Apartment Communities' return on equity.
Mid-America Apartment Communities has higher revenue and earnings than Essex Property Trust. Mid-America Apartment Communities is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essex Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Mid-America Apartment Communities has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $5.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $9.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 124.8% 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 pays out 146.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Mid-America Apartment Communities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Mid-America Apartment Communities presently has a consensus price target of $143.18, suggesting a potential upside of 10.27%. Essex Property Trust has a consensus price target of $243.58, suggesting a potential upside of 2.53%. Given Essex Property Trust's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mid-America Apartment Communities is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.
Summary
Mid-America Apartment Communities beats Essex Property Trust on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ESS and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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