Analyzing Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) & Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT)

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) and Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE:FRT) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Federal Realty Investment Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	0	5	4	0	2.44
Federal Realty Investment Trust	0	8	8	1	2.59

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. currently has a consensus price target of $38.86, indicating a potential upside of 10.20%. Federal Realty Investment Trust has a consensus price target of $110.30, indicating a potential upside of 8.35%. Given Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. is more favorable than Federal Realty Investment Trust.

Dividends

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Federal Realty Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $4.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays out 197.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Federal Realty Investment Trust pays out 114.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Federal Realty Investment Trust has raised its dividend for 58 consecutive years. Federal Realty Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Federal Realty Investment Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	$661.39 million	6.71	$62.69 million	$0.66	53.42
Federal Realty Investment Trust	$1.20 billion	7.30	$295.21 million	$3.94	25.84

Federal Realty Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.. Federal Realty Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.7% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Federal Realty Investment Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Federal Realty Investment Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. and Federal Realty Investment Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	11.51%	3.14%	1.58%
Federal Realty Investment Trust	27.65%	11.12%	4.01%

Risk & Volatility

Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Federal Realty Investment Trust has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Federal Realty Investment Trust beats Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of shopping centers. It also offers an investment management business providing property management and advisory services. Its portfolio consists of well-occupied, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers having a mix of national, regional, and local retailers offering necessity-based goods and services. The company was founded by Jeffrey S. Edison and Michael C. Phillips in 1991 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.

About Federal Realty Investment Trust

Federal Realty Investment Trust is an equity real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of ownership, management, and redevelopment of retail and mixed-use properties located primarily in communities where demand exceeds supply in strategically selected metropolitan markets. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in North Bethesda, MD.