Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR – Get Rating) and Bluerock Residential Growth REIT (NYSE:BRG – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.9% of Equity Residential shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.5% of Bluerock Residential Growth REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of Equity Residential shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Bluerock Residential Growth REIT shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Equity Residential and Bluerock Residential Growth REIT's revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Equity Residential and Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

Equity Residential currently has a consensus target price of $84.53, indicating a potential upside of 21.00%. Given Equity Residential's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Equity Residential is more favorable than Bluerock Residential Growth REIT.

Volatility & Risk

Equity Residential has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bluerock Residential Growth REIT has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Equity Residential pays an annual dividend of $2.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Bluerock Residential Growth REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.65 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Equity Residential pays out 75.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity Residential has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Equity Residential is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Equity Residential and Bluerock Residential Growth REIT's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Summary

Equity Residential beats Bluerock Residential Growth REIT on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Equity Residential

(Get Rating)

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract high quality long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 78,568 apartment units, located in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, Southern California and Denver.

About Bluerock Residential Growth REIT

(Get Rating)

Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc. (NYSE American: BRG) is a real estate investment trust that focuses on developing and acquiring a diversified portfolio of institutional-quality highly amenitized live/work/play apartment communities in demographically attractive knowledge economy growth markets to appeal to the renter by choice. The Company's objective is to generate value through off-market/relationship-based transactions and, at the asset level, through value-add improvements to properties and to operations. The Company is included in the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes. BRG has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Bluerock Multifamily Advisor, LLC.

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