Head-To-Head Review: Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) & Regency Centers (NASDAQ:REG)

Regency Centers (NASDAQ:REG) and Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) are both real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Regency Centers and Acadia Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Regency Centers	0	8	8	1	2.59
Acadia Realty Trust	0	3	4	1	2.75

Regency Centers presently has a consensus price target of $83.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.81%. Acadia Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $23.80, indicating a potential upside of 20.75%. Given Acadia Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Acadia Realty Trust is more favorable than Regency Centers.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.1% of Regency Centers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Regency Centers shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Acadia Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Regency Centers and Acadia Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Regency Centers	34.38%	8.04%	4.26%
Acadia Realty Trust	10.23%	1.54%	0.87%

Volatility & Risk

Regency Centers has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acadia Realty Trust has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Regency Centers pays an annual dividend of $3.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Acadia Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Regency Centers pays out 102.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Acadia Realty Trust pays out 285.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Regency Centers has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Acadia Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Regency Centers and Acadia Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Regency Centers	$1.62 billion	8.63	$527.46 million	$2.95	25.86
Acadia Realty Trust	$398.16 million	6.84	$16.90 million	$0.28	70.39

Regency Centers has higher revenue and earnings than Acadia Realty Trust. Regency Centers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acadia Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Regency Centers beats Acadia Realty Trust on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Regency Centers

Regency Centers is a preeminent national owner, operator, and developer of shopping centers located in suburban trade areas with compelling demographics. Our portfolio includes thriving properties merchandised with highly productive grocers, restaurants, service providers, and best-in-class retailers that connect to their neighborhoods, communities, and customers. Operating as a fully integrated real estate company, Regency Centers is a qualified real estate investment trust (REIT) that is self-administered, self-managed, and an S&P 500 Index member.

About Acadia Realty Trust

Acadia Realty Trust is an equity real estate investment trust focused on delivering long-term, profitable growth via its dual Core Portfolio and Fund operating platforms and its disciplined, location-driven investment strategy. Acadia Realty Trust is accomplishing this goal by building a best-in-class core real estate portfolio with meaningful concentrations of assets in the nation's most dynamic corridors; making profitable opportunistic and value-add investments through its series of discretionary, institutional funds; and maintaining a strong balance sheet.