Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) vs. Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) Critical Survey

Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) and Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Urban Edge Properties and Federal Realty Investment Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Urban Edge Properties	0	4	2	0	2.33
Federal Realty Investment Trust	0	9	6	1	2.50

Urban Edge Properties currently has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.28%. Federal Realty Investment Trust has a consensus target price of $108.46, indicating a potential upside of 12.94%. Given Urban Edge Properties’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Urban Edge Properties is more favorable than Federal Realty Investment Trust.

Risk & Volatility

Urban Edge Properties has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Federal Realty Investment Trust has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Urban Edge Properties and Federal Realty Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Urban Edge Properties	23.73%	8.10%	3.35%
Federal Realty Investment Trust	28.01%	11.19%	4.04%

Dividends

Urban Edge Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Federal Realty Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Urban Edge Properties pays out 85.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Federal Realty Investment Trust pays out 114.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Urban Edge Properties has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Federal Realty Investment Trust has increased its dividend for 58 consecutive years. Federal Realty Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Urban Edge Properties and Federal Realty Investment Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Urban Edge Properties	$444.97 million	5.40	$72.56 million	$0.89	21.44
Federal Realty Investment Trust	$1.24 billion	6.70	$295.21 million	$3.94	24.37

Federal Realty Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Urban Edge Properties. Urban Edge Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Federal Realty Investment Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.9% of Urban Edge Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Federal Realty Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of Urban Edge Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Federal Realty Investment Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Federal Realty Investment Trust beats Urban Edge Properties on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Urban Edge Properties

Urban Edge Properties is a NYSE listed real estate investment trust focused on owning, managing, acquiring, developing, and redeveloping retail real estate in urban communities, primarily in the Washington, D.C. to Boston corridor. Urban Edge owns 76 properties totaling 17.1 million square feet of gross leasable area.

About Federal Realty Investment Trust

Federal Realty Investment Trust is an equity real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of ownership, management, and redevelopment of retail and mixed-use properties located primarily in communities where demand exceeds supply in strategically selected metropolitan markets. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in North Bethesda, MD.