Analyzing Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) & Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX)

Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX) and Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Brixmor Property Group and Urban Edge Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brixmor Property Group	0	3	9	2	2.93
Urban Edge Properties	0	2	2	0	2.50

Brixmor Property Group currently has a consensus price target of $32.95, indicating a potential upside of 12.30%. Urban Edge Properties has a consensus price target of $22.67, indicating a potential upside of 10.35%. Given Brixmor Property Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Brixmor Property Group is more favorable than Urban Edge Properties.

Volatility and Risk

Brixmor Property Group has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Urban Edge Properties has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Brixmor Property Group and Urban Edge Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brixmor Property Group	29.96%	14.10%	4.70%
Urban Edge Properties	21.12%	7.53%	3.09%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.4% of Brixmor Property Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Urban Edge Properties shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Brixmor Property Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Urban Edge Properties shares are held 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.

Dividends

Brixmor Property Group pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Urban Edge Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Brixmor Property Group pays out 89.8% 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 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. Brixmor Property Group has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Urban Edge Properties has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Brixmor Property Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Brixmor Property Group and Urban Edge Properties”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brixmor Property Group	$1.37 billion	6.57	$386.23 million	$1.37	21.42
Urban Edge Properties	$471.93 million	5.49	$93.54 million	$0.83	24.75

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

Summary

Brixmor Property Group beats Urban Edge Properties on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Brixmor Property Group

Brixmor Property Group, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in owning and operating a portfolio of grocery anchored community and neighborhood shopping centers. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

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.