Piedmont Office Realty Trust (PDM) Competitors

Highwoods Properties (NYSE:HIW) and Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of HIW or PDM?

96.3% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.5% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Highwoods Properties shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, HIW or PDM?

Highwoods Properties has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HIW or PDM more profitable?

Highwoods Properties has a net margin of 12.37% compared to Piedmont Office Realty Trust's net margin of -13.86%. Highwoods Properties' return on equity of 4.33% beat Piedmont Office Realty Trust's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Highwoods Properties	12.37%	4.33%	1.70%
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	-13.86%	-4.82%	-1.93%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HIW or PDM?

Highwoods Properties received 56 more outperform votes than Piedmont Office Realty Trust when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.73% of users gave Highwoods Properties an outperform vote while only 51.18% of users gave Piedmont Office Realty Trust an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Highwoods Properties	Outperform Votes 382 60.73%	Underperform Votes 247 39.27%
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	Outperform Votes 326 51.18%	Underperform Votes 311 48.82%

Which has better earnings & valuation, HIW or PDM?

Highwoods Properties has higher revenue and earnings than Piedmont Office Realty Trust. Piedmont Office Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Highwoods Properties, 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
Highwoods Properties	$814.97M	4.19	$102.25M	$1.61	19.68
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	$568.47M	1.71	-$79.07M	-$0.49	-15.96

Do analysts rate HIW or PDM?

Highwoods Properties currently has a consensus price target of $31.83, suggesting a potential upside of 0.45%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $9.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.09%. Given Piedmont Office Realty Trust's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Piedmont Office Realty Trust is more favorable than Highwoods Properties.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Highwoods Properties	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Does the media refer more to HIW or PDM?

In the previous week, Piedmont Office Realty Trust had 5 more articles in the media than Highwoods Properties. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Piedmont Office Realty Trust and 1 mentions for Highwoods Properties. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's average media sentiment score of 0.68 beat Highwoods Properties' score of 0.58 indicating that Piedmont Office Realty Trust is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Highwoods Properties	Positive
Piedmont Office Realty Trust	Positive

Is HIW or PDM a better dividend stock?

Highwoods Properties pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.4%. Highwoods Properties pays out 124.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Piedmont Office Realty Trust pays out -102.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Piedmont Office Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Highwoods Properties beats Piedmont Office Realty Trust on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.