Reviewing Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) & UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH)

UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) and Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for UMH Properties and Elme Communities, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UMH Properties	0	3	3	0	2.50
Elme Communities	1	3	0	0	1.75

UMH Properties currently has a consensus price target of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.24%. Elme Communities has a consensus price target of $18.50, suggesting a potential upside of 737.10%. Given Elme Communities’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Elme Communities is more favorable than UMH Properties.

Volatility and Risk

UMH Properties has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elme Communities has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares UMH Properties and Elme Communities”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UMH Properties	$240.55 million	5.53	$21.64 million	$0.08	195.25
Elme Communities	$241.93 million	0.81	-$13.10 million	($1.52)	-1.45

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

Profitability

This table compares UMH Properties and Elme Communities’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UMH Properties	10.47%	4.47%	1.69%
Elme Communities	-54.57%	-13.15%	-7.52%

Dividends

UMH Properties pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Elme Communities pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 32.6%. UMH Properties pays out 1,125.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Elme Communities pays out -47.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. UMH Properties has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Elme Communities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.4% of UMH Properties shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.9% of Elme Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 8.8% of UMH Properties shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Elme Communities shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

UMH Properties beats Elme Communities on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UMH Properties

UMH Properties, Inc., which was organized in 1968, is a public equity REIT that owns and operates 135 manufactured home communities containing approximately 25,800 developed homesites. These communities are located in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. UMH also has an ownership interest in and operates two communities in Florida, containing 363 sites, through its joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate

About Elme Communities

Elme Communities is committed to elevating what home can be for middle-income renters by providing a higher level of quality, service, and experience. The Company is a multifamily real estate investment trust that owns and operates approximately 9,400 apartment homes in the Washington, DC metro and the Atlanta metro regions, and owns approximately 300,000 square feet of commercial space. Focused on providing quality, affordable homes to a deep, solid, and underserved base of mid-market demand, Elme Communities is building long-term value for shareholders.