Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) and Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) Critical Contrast

Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.9% of Urban Edge Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Urban Edge Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by 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.

Volatility and Risk

Urban Edge Properties has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Urban Edge Properties and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc., as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Urban Edge Properties	0	2	2	0	2.50
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	0	7	3	0	2.30

Urban Edge Properties presently has a consensus price target of $22.67, indicating a potential upside of 6.77%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a consensus price target of $43.20, indicating a potential upside of 3.86%. Given Urban Edge Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Urban Edge Properties is more favorable than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc..

Profitability

This table compares Urban Edge Properties and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Urban Edge Properties	21.12%	7.53%	3.09%
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	23.87%	6.90%	3.36%

Dividends

Urban Edge Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays an annual dividend of $1.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Urban Edge Properties pays out 101.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays out 95.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Urban Edge Properties has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Urban Edge Properties is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Urban Edge Properties and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Urban Edge Properties	$471.93 million	5.68	$93.54 million	$0.83	25.58
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	$726.59 million	7.37	$111.30 million	$1.44	28.89

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Urban Edge Properties. Urban Edge Properties is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. beats Urban Edge Properties on 10 of the 17 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 Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of shopping centers. It also offers an investment management business providing property management and advisory services. Its portfolio consists of well-occupied, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers having a mix of national, regional, and local retailers offering necessity-based goods and services. The company was founded by Jeffrey S. Edison and Michael C. Phillips in 1991 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.