Analyzing Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) and Its Peers

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Empire State Realty Trust and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	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	2833	2691	25	2.28

Empire State Realty Trust presently has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential downside of 5.57%. As a group, “Office REITs” companies have a potential upside of 3.80%. 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.

Volatility and Risk

Empire State Realty Trust has a beta of 1.41, suggesting 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, suggesting that their average stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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	-17.75%	-7.48%	-0.23%

Dividends

Empire State Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. 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 -502.3% 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.

Earnings and Valuation

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	132.38
Empire State Realty Trust Competitors	$530.03 million	-$49.56 million	15.04

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. (NYSE: ESRT) is a NYC-focused REIT that owns and operates a portfolio of modernized, amenitized, and well-located office, retail, and multifamily assets. The company is the recognized leader in energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality. ESRT’s flagship Empire State Building – the “World’s Most Famous Building” – includes its Observatory, Tripadvisor’s 2023 Travelers’ Choice Awards: Best of the Best the #1 attraction in the US for two consecutive years. As of September 30, 2023, ESRT’s portfolio is comprised of approximately 8.6 million rentable square feet of office space, 0.7 million rentable square feet of retail space and 727 residential units across three multifamily properties.