Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS) and Healthpeak Properties (NYSE:DOC) Head to Head Contrast

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Healthpeak Properties	12.10%	3.53%	1.62%
Essex Property Trust	31.55%	9.72%	4.36%

Dividends

Healthpeak Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Essex Property Trust pays an annual dividend of $9.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Healthpeak Properties pays out 255.3% 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 pays out 114.5% 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 30 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Healthpeak Properties and Essex Property Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Healthpeak Properties	0	5	10	1	2.75
Essex Property Trust	1	13	6	0	2.25

Healthpeak Properties presently has a consensus target price of $22.86, indicating a potential upside of 1.32%. Essex Property Trust has a consensus target price of $293.40, indicating a potential downside of 1.06%. Given Healthpeak Properties’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Healthpeak Properties is more favorable than Essex Property Trust.

Risk & Volatility

Healthpeak Properties has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essex Property Trust has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.6% of Healthpeak Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Healthpeak Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Essex Property Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Healthpeak Properties 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
Healthpeak Properties	$2.18 billion	7.23	$306.01 million	$0.47	48.00
Essex Property Trust	$1.67 billion	11.42	$405.83 million	$8.56	34.64

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

Summary

Essex Property Trust beats Healthpeak Properties on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Healthpeak Properties

Healthpeak Properties, Inc. is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) and S&P 500 company. Healthpeak owns, operates, and develops high-quality real estate for healthcare discovery and delivery.

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.