Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) & Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) Head-To-Head Analysis

Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) and Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Essential Properties Realty Trust and Vornado Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Essential Properties Realty Trust	0	2	11	0	2.85
Vornado Realty Trust	3	6	2	0	1.91

Essential Properties Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $31.73, indicating a potential upside of 0.60%. Vornado Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $29.32, indicating a potential downside of 13.69%. Given Essential Properties Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Essential Properties Realty Trust is more favorable than Vornado Realty Trust.

Volatility & Risk

Essential Properties Realty Trust has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vornado Realty Trust has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.0% of Essential Properties Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Vornado Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Essential Properties Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of Vornado Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Essential Properties Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Vornado Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Essential Properties Realty Trust pays out 94.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Vornado Realty Trust pays out 200.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essential Properties Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Essential Properties Realty Trust and Vornado Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Essential Properties Realty Trust	48.12%	6.28%	3.96%
Vornado Realty Trust	4.51%	3.21%	0.92%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Essential Properties Realty Trust and Vornado Realty Trust’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Essential Properties Realty Trust	$402.16 million	13.75	$190.71 million	$1.23	25.64
Vornado Realty Trust	$1.81 billion	3.57	$105.49 million	$0.15	226.48

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

Summary

Essential Properties Realty Trust beats Vornado Realty Trust on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc., a real estate company, acquires, owns, and manages single-tenant properties in the United States. The company leases its properties to middle-market companies, such as restaurants, car washes, automotive services, medical and dental services, convenience stores, equipment rental, entertainment, early childhood education, grocery, and health and fitness on a long-term basis. As of December 31, 2021, it had a portfolio of 1, 451 properties. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

About Vornado Realty Trust

Vornado is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) with a portfolio of premier New York City office and retail assets and the developer of the new PENN DISTRICT. While concentrated in New York, Vornado also owns the premier assets in both Chicago and San Francisco. Vornado is a real estate industry leader in sustainability, with over 27 million square feet of LEED-certified buildings and over 23 million square feet at LEED Gold or Platinum.