Financial Survey: Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) vs. Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT)

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.2% of Camden Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Camden Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essex Property Trust	30.03%	10.00%	4.36%
Camden Property Trust	24.69%	8.71%	4.28%

Dividends

Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $10.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Camden Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Essex Property Trust pays out 116.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Camden Property Trust pays out 118.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essex Property Trust has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years and Camden Property Trust has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Essex Property Trust and Camden Property Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essex Property Trust	1	10	9	0	2.40
Camden Property Trust	2	10	5	1	2.28

Essex Property Trust currently has a consensus price target of $292.08, suggesting a potential downside of 1.12%. Camden Property Trust has a consensus price target of $114.67, suggesting a potential downside of 1.38%. Given Essex Property Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Essex Property Trust is more favorable than Camden Property Trust.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Essex Property Trust and Camden Property Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essex Property Trust	$1.89 billion	10.06	$669.67 million	$8.90	33.19
Camden Property Trust	$1.57 billion	7.43	$384.46 million	$3.58	32.48

Essex Property Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Camden Property Trust. Camden Property Trust 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.

Volatility & Risk

Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Camden Property Trust has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats Camden Property Trust on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Essex Property Trust

Essex Property Trust, Inc., an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast markets. Essex currently has ownership interests in 252 apartment communities comprising approximately 62,000 apartment homes with an additional property in active development.

About Camden Property Trust

Camden Property Trust, an S&P 500 Company, is a real estate company primarily engaged in the ownership, management, development, redevelopment, acquisition, and construction of multifamily apartment communities. Camden owns and operates 172 properties containing 58,250 apartment homes across the United States. Upon completion of 5 properties currently under development, the Company’s portfolio will increase to 59,996 apartment homes in 177 properties. Camden has been recognized as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For by FORTUNE magazine for 17 consecutive years, most recently ranking #24.