Head to Head Contrast: Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) & Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV)

Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) and Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) are both real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Apartment Investment and Management and Essex Property Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Apartment Investment and Management	1	0	0	0	1.00
Essex Property Trust	1	10	10	1	2.50

Essex Property Trust has a consensus price target of $297.52, suggesting a potential upside of 9.11%. Given Essex Property Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Essex Property Trust is more favorable than Apartment Investment and Management.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.3% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of Apartment Investment and Management shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Apartment Investment and Management has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Apartment Investment and Management and Essex Property Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Apartment Investment and Management	$138.49 million	1.53	$554.01 million	$3.88	0.38
Essex Property Trust	$1.89 billion	9.30	$669.67 million	$5.39	50.59

Essex Property Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Apartment Investment and Management. Apartment Investment and Management is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Essex Property Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Apartment Investment and Management and Essex Property Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Apartment Investment and Management	N/A	N/A	N/A
Essex Property Trust	17.84%	6.24%	2.67%

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats Apartment Investment and Management on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Apartment Investment and Management

Apartment Investment and Management Company, which operates as Aimco, is a real estate investment trust focused on owning, operating, redeveloping and developing apartment communities in the United States. Its properties serve residential renters in a range of urban and suburban markets. In 2020, Aimco separated its portfolio of stabilized apartment communities into Apartment Income REIT Corp. (AIR Communities). Aimco retained a smaller portfolio of properties along with development and redevelopment activities.

About Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust focused on owning, operating, acquiring, developing and redeveloping apartment communities. Its portfolio serves renters in major coastal markets in Southern California, Northern California and the Seattle metropolitan area. Founded in 1971, the company became publicly traded in 1994. Essex’s primary business is providing rental housing, with property operations and development activities supporting its apartment portfolio.