Head to Head Comparison: Kimco Realty (NYSE:KIM) vs. Realty Income (NYSE:O)

Kimco Realty (NYSE:KIM) and Realty Income (NYSE:O) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Kimco Realty and Realty Income’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kimco Realty	26.79%	5.17%	2.78%
Realty Income	18.15%	2.51%	1.42%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.3% of Kimco Realty shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.8% of Realty Income shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Kimco Realty shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Realty Income shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Kimco Realty has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Realty Income has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Kimco Realty and Realty Income, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kimco Realty	0	9	5	2	2.56
Realty Income	0	9	4	0	2.31

Kimco Realty currently has a consensus price target of $24.70, indicating a potential upside of 15.65%. Realty Income has a consensus price target of $61.15, indicating a potential upside of 5.51%. Given Kimco Realty’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Kimco Realty is more favorable than Realty Income.

Dividends

Kimco Realty pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Realty Income pays an annual dividend of $3.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Kimco Realty pays out 129.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Realty Income pays out 293.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Kimco Realty has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Realty Income has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Kimco Realty and Realty Income”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kimco Realty	$2.07 billion	6.98	$410.79 million	$0.77	27.74
Realty Income	$5.27 billion	9.93	$860.77 million	$1.10	52.69

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

Summary

Kimco Realty beats Realty Income on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kimco Realty

Kimco Realty Corp. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) headquartered in New Hyde Park, N.Y., that is one of North America’s largest publicly traded owners and operators of open-air shopping centers. As of December 31, 2018, the company owned interests in 437 U.S. shopping centers comprising 76 million square feet of leasable space primarily concentrated in the top major metropolitan markets.

About Realty Income

Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 15,450 real estate properties (including properties acquired in the Spirit merger in January 2024) primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. To date, the company has declared 644 consecutive monthly dividends on its shares of common stock throughout its 55-year operating history and increased the dividend 123 times since Realty Income’s public listing in 1994 (NYSE: O).