Medical Properties Trust (NYSE:MPT – Get Free Report) and Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and profitability.
Dividends
Medical Properties Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.1%. Healthcare Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Medical Properties Trust pays out -600.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Healthcare Realty Trust pays out -369.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Medical Properties Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
71.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Medical Properties Trust shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Healthcare Realty Trust shares are owned by 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.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Medical Properties Trust | $972.02 million | 2.44 | -$277.05 million | ($0.06) | -66.17 |
| Healthcare Realty Trust | $1.18 billion | 5.49 | -$246.07 million | ($0.26) | -72.77 |
Healthcare Realty Trust has higher revenue and earnings than Medical Properties Trust. Healthcare Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medical Properties Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Medical Properties Trust and Healthcare Realty Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Medical Properties Trust | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 |
| Healthcare Realty Trust | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2.40 |
Medical Properties Trust currently has a consensus target price of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.35%. Healthcare Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.28%. Given Healthcare Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Healthcare Realty Trust is more favorable than Medical Properties Trust.
Profitability
This table compares Medical Properties Trust and Healthcare Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Medical Properties Trust | -2.96% | -0.66% | -0.20% |
| Healthcare Realty Trust | -7.59% | -1.91% | -0.93% |
Volatility and Risk
Medical Properties Trust has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its share price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Healthcare Realty Trust has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Medical Properties Trust beats Healthcare Realty Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Medical Properties Trust
Medical Properties Trust, Inc. is a self-advised real estate investment trust formed to capitalize on the changing trends in healthcare delivery by acquiring and developing net-leased healthcare facilities. MPT’s financing model allows hospitals and other healthcare facilities to unlock the value of their underlying real estate in order to fund facility improvements, technology upgrades, staff additions and new construction. Facilities include acute care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, and other medical and surgical facilities.
About Healthcare Realty Trust
Healthcare Realty Trust, Inc. provides real estate investment services. It owns, leases, manages, acquires, finances, develops, and redevelops income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services throughout the United States of America. The company was founded by David R. Emery in 1992 and is headquartered in Nashville, TN.
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