Financial Comparison: Realty Income (NYSE:O) vs. CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO)

Realty Income (NYSE:O) and CTO Realty Growth (NYSE:CTO) are both real estate companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.8% of Realty Income shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.2% of CTO Realty Growth shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Realty Income shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of CTO Realty Growth shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Realty Income has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CTO Realty Growth has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Realty Income pays an annual dividend of $3.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. CTO Realty Growth pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. Realty Income pays out 237.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. CTO Realty Growth pays out 111.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Realty Income has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. CTO Realty Growth is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Realty Income and CTO Realty Growth, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Realty Income	1	7	8	1	2.53
CTO Realty Growth	0	0	5	2	3.29

Realty Income presently has a consensus target price of $67.42, suggesting a potential upside of 6.88%. CTO Realty Growth has a consensus target price of $24.50, suggesting a potential upside of 12.13%. Given CTO Realty Growth’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CTO Realty Growth is more favorable than Realty Income.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Realty Income and CTO Realty Growth”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Realty Income	$5.75 billion	10.38	$1.06 billion	$1.37	46.04
CTO Realty Growth	$149.54 million	5.48	$10.09 million	$1.36	16.07

Realty Income has higher revenue and earnings than CTO Realty Growth. CTO Realty Growth is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Realty Income, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Realty Income and CTO Realty Growth’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Realty Income	20.93%	3.12%	1.72%
CTO Realty Growth	32.63%	8.90%	4.05%

About Realty Income

Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 15,450 real estate properties (including properties acquired in the Spirit merger in January 2024) primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. To date, the company has declared 644 consecutive monthly dividends on its shares of common stock throughout its 55-year operating history and increased the dividend 123 times since Realty Income’s public listing in 1994 (NYSE: O).

About CTO Realty Growth

CTO Realty Growth, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates a portfolio of high-quality, retail-based properties located primarily in higher growth markets in the United States. CTO also externally manages and owns a meaningful interest in Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PINE), a publicly traded net lease REIT.