Comparing Kimbell Royalty (NYSE:KRP) and Marine Petroleum Trust (NASDAQ:MARPS)

Kimbell Royalty (NYSE:KRP) and Marine Petroleum Trust (NASDAQ:MARPS) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

Kimbell Royalty pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.0%. Marine Petroleum Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Kimbell Royalty pays out -2,171.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marine Petroleum Trust pays out 87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Kimbell Royalty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kimbell Royalty and Marine Petroleum Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kimbell Royalty	$309.31 million	4.81	$12.32 million	($0.07)	-197.10
Marine Petroleum Trust	$1.04 million	8.52	$730,000.00	$0.31	14.29

Kimbell Royalty has higher revenue and earnings than Marine Petroleum Trust. Kimbell Royalty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marine Petroleum Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Kimbell Royalty has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marine Petroleum Trust has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.8% of Kimbell Royalty shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.8% of Marine Petroleum Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Kimbell Royalty shares are owned 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kimbell Royalty and Marine Petroleum Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kimbell Royalty	1	5	1	0	2.00
Marine Petroleum Trust	1	0	0	0	1.00

Kimbell Royalty currently has a consensus target price of $17.20, suggesting a potential upside of 24.66%. Given Kimbell Royalty’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Kimbell Royalty is more favorable than Marine Petroleum Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Kimbell Royalty and Marine Petroleum Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kimbell Royalty	10.66%	12.51%	6.28%
Marine Petroleum Trust	64.77%	67.47%	67.47%

Summary

Kimbell Royalty beats Marine Petroleum Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kimbell Royalty

Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP, together with its subsidiaries, engages in acquiring and owning mineral and royalty interests in oil and natural gas properties in the United States. It serves as the general partner of the company. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in Fort Worth, Texas.

About Marine Petroleum Trust

Marine Petroleum Trust, together with its subsidiary, Marine Petroleum Corporation, operates as a royalty trust in the United States. It has overriding royalty interest in oil and natural gas leases in the Central and Western areas of the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. Marine Petroleum Trust was founded in 1956 and is based in Dallas, Texas.