Comparing United Dominion Realty Trust (NYSE:UDR) and Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME)

Elme Communities (NYSE:ELME) and United Dominion Realty Trust (NYSE:UDR) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Elme Communities and United Dominion Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elme Communities	1	2	0	0	1.67
United Dominion Realty Trust	2	8	5	0	2.20

Elme Communities presently has a consensus price target of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 784.52%. United Dominion Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $40.82, suggesting a potential upside of 15.78%. Given Elme Communities’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Elme Communities is more favorable than United Dominion Realty Trust.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Elme Communities and United Dominion Realty Trust”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elme Communities	$206.36 million	0.88	-$154.16 million	($1.52)	-1.34
United Dominion Realty Trust	$1.71 billion	6.77	$377.70 million	$1.13	31.20

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

Profitability

This table compares Elme Communities and United Dominion Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elme Communities	-74.71%	-20.43%	-8.29%
United Dominion Realty Trust	22.06%	11.58%	3.55%

Risk & Volatility

Elme Communities has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Dominion Realty Trust has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.9% of Elme Communities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.8% of United Dominion Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Elme Communities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of United Dominion Realty Trust shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Elme Communities pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 26.5%. United Dominion Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Elme Communities pays out -35.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Dominion Realty Trust pays out 152.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. United Dominion Realty Trust has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Elme Communities is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

United Dominion Realty Trust beats Elme Communities on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Elme Communities

Elme Communities is committed to elevating what home can be for middle-income renters by providing a higher level of quality, service, and experience. The Company is a multifamily real estate investment trust that owns and operates approximately 9,400 apartment homes in the Washington, DC metro and the Atlanta metro regions, and owns approximately 300,000 square feet of commercial space. Focused on providing quality, affordable homes to a deep, solid, and underserved base of mid-market demand, Elme Communities is building long-term value for shareholders.

About United Dominion Realty Trust

UDR, Inc. (NYSE: UDR), an S&P 500 company, is a leading multifamily real estate investment trust with a demonstrated performance history of delivering superior and dependable returns by successfully managing, buying, selling, developing and redeveloping attractive real estate communities in targeted U.S. markets. As of December 31, 2023, UDR owned or had an ownership position in 60,336 apartment homes including 359 homes under development. For over 51 years, UDR has delivered long-term value to shareholders, the best standard of service to Residents and the highest quality experience for Associates.