Critical Review: Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) vs. Alpine Income Property Trust (NYSE:PINE)

Alpine Income Property Trust (NYSE:PINE) and Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) are both real estate companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

60.5% of Alpine Income Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Urban Edge Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Alpine Income Property Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Urban Edge Properties shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Alpine Income Property Trust and Urban Edge Properties’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alpine Income Property Trust	9.36%	2.11%	0.91%
Urban Edge Properties	13.72%	4.92%	2.03%

Dividends

Alpine Income Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. Urban Edge Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Alpine Income Property Trust pays out 673.7% 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 155.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alpine Income Property Trust has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Urban Edge Properties has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Alpine Income Property Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Alpine Income Property Trust has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Urban Edge Properties has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Alpine Income Property Trust and Urban Edge Properties, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alpine Income Property Trust	0	4	5	2	2.82
Urban Edge Properties	0	2	2	0	2.50

Alpine Income Property Trust presently has a consensus price target of $21.50, indicating a potential upside of 21.54%. Urban Edge Properties has a consensus price target of $23.67, indicating a potential upside of 18.48%. Given Alpine Income Property Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Alpine Income Property Trust is more favorable than Urban Edge Properties.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Alpine Income Property Trust and Urban Edge Properties”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alpine Income Property Trust	$69.87 million	4.46	-$2.66 million	$0.19	93.11
Urban Edge Properties	$495.09 million	5.09	$93.54 million	$0.54	36.99

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

Summary

Urban Edge Properties beats Alpine Income Property Trust on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alpine Income Property Trust

Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PINE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that seeks to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns and dependable cash dividends by investing in, owning and operating a portfolio of single tenant net leased properties that are predominately leased to high-quality publicly traded and credit-rated tenants.

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.