Analyzing Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) & The Competition

Empire State Realty Trust (NYSE:ESRT) is one of 59 public companies in the “Office REITs” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Empire State Realty Trust to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Empire State Realty Trust has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Empire State Realty Trust’s competitors have a beta of 1.02, meaning that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Empire State Realty Trust and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Empire State Realty Trust	2	1	0	0	1.33
Empire State Realty Trust Competitors	946	2834	2691	25	2.28

Empire State Realty Trust presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.27%. As a group, “Office REITs” companies have a potential upside of 1.29%. Given Empire State Realty Trust’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Empire State Realty Trust has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.1% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.2% of shares of all “Office REITs” companies are owned by institutional investors. 15.2% of Empire State Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of shares of all “Office REITs” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Empire State Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Empire State Realty Trust pays out 350.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Office REITs” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.9% and pay out -314.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Empire State Realty Trust lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Empire State Realty Trust and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Empire State Realty Trust	0.30%	0.13%	0.05%
Empire State Realty Trust Competitors	-16.89%	-7.45%	-0.14%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Empire State Realty Trust and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Empire State Realty Trust	$768.27 million	$47.60 million	130.57
Empire State Realty Trust Competitors	$531.67 million	-$49.56 million	15.11

Empire State Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Empire State Realty Trust is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Empire State Realty Trust beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Empire State Realty Trust Company Profile

Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust that owns, manages and leases office and retail properties, primarily in Manhattan and the broader New York metropolitan area. Its portfolio includes the Empire State Building and other commercial properties. The company’s business includes leasing office and retail space to tenants, as well as operating the Empire State Building Observatory, a visitor attraction offering views of New York City. Empire State Realty Trust became a publicly traded company in 2013.