Seven Hills Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SEVN) & AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) Critical Review

AG Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:MITT) and Seven Hills Realty Trust (NASDAQ:SEVN) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of AG Mortgage Investment Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 20.9%. Seven Hills Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.7%. AG Mortgage Investment Trust pays out -436.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seven Hills Realty Trust pays out 76.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AG Mortgage Investment Trust has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and Seven Hills Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	2.64%	15.52%	0.62%
Seven Hills Realty Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares AG Mortgage Investment Trust and Seven Hills Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	$480.33 million	0.30	$48.67 million	($0.22)	-20.89
Seven Hills Realty Trust	$26.81 million	N/A	N/A	$1.46	4.59

AG Mortgage Investment Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Seven Hills Realty Trust. AG Mortgage Investment Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Seven Hills Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for AG Mortgage Investment Trust and Seven Hills Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AG Mortgage Investment Trust	1	1	5	0	2.57
Seven Hills Realty Trust	0	1	5	0	2.83

AG Mortgage Investment Trust presently has a consensus target price of $8.38, suggesting a potential upside of 82.26%. Seven Hills Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $9.75, suggesting a potential upside of 45.52%. Given AG Mortgage Investment Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AG Mortgage Investment Trust is more favorable than Seven Hills Realty Trust.

Summary

AG Mortgage Investment Trust beats Seven Hills Realty Trust on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AG Mortgage Investment Trust

AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. operates as a residential mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States. Its investment portfolio includes residential investments, including non-agency loans, agency-eligible loans, re-and non-performing loans, and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, as well as commercial loans and commercial mortgage-backed securities. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. AG Mortgage Investment Trust, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in New York, New York.

About Seven Hills Realty Trust

Seven Hills Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust, focuses on originating and investing in first mortgage loans secured by middle market and transitional commercial real estate in the United States. The company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. As a result, it would not be subject to corporate income tax on that portion of its net income that is distributed to shareholders. The company was formerly known as RMR Mortgage Trust. Seven Hills Realty Trust was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.