Reviewing Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT) & American Tower (NYSE:AMT)

Universal Health Realty Income Trust (NYSE:UHT) and American Tower (NYSE:AMT) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Universal Health Realty Income Trust and American Tower”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	$99.19 million	5.90	$17.61 million	$1.28	32.91
American Tower	$10.64 billion	8.09	$2.53 billion	$6.19	29.88

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

Dividends

Universal Health Realty Income Trust pays an annual dividend of $2.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.1%. American Tower pays an annual dividend of $7.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Universal Health Realty Income Trust pays out 232.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Tower pays out 115.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Universal Health Realty Income Trust has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and American Tower has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Universal Health Realty Income Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Universal Health Realty Income Trust and American Tower, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00
American Tower	0	5	14	1	2.80

American Tower has a consensus price target of $216.20, suggesting a potential upside of 16.91%. Given American Tower’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe American Tower is more favorable than Universal Health Realty Income Trust.

Profitability

This table compares Universal Health Realty Income Trust and American Tower’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Health Realty Income Trust	18.00%	11.44%	3.15%
American Tower	26.81%	27.79%	4.57%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

64.7% of Universal Health Realty Income Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of American Tower shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Universal Health Realty Income Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Tower shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Universal Health Realty Income Trust has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Tower has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

American Tower beats Universal Health Realty Income Trust on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Universal Health Realty Income Trust

Universal Health Realty Income Trust, a real estate investment trust, invests in healthcare and human-service related facilities including acute care hospitals, behavioral health care hospitals, specialty facilities, medical/office buildings, free-standing emergency departments and childcare centers. We have investments or commitments in seventy-six properties located in twenty-one states.

About American Tower

American Tower, one of the largest global REITs, is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate with a portfolio of over 224,000 communications sites and a highly interconnected footprint of U.S. data center facilities.