Head-To-Head Survey: Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX) vs. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO)

Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX) and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:PECO) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Brixmor Property Group and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc., as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brixmor Property Group	0	2	9	0	2.82
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	0	4	5	0	2.56

Brixmor Property Group currently has a consensus price target of $30.70, indicating a potential upside of 3.49%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a consensus price target of $39.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.64%. Given Brixmor Property Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Brixmor Property Group is more favorable than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc..

Dividends

Brixmor Property Group pays an annual dividend of $1.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Brixmor Property Group pays out 97.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. pays out 146.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Brixmor Property Group has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Brixmor Property Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Brixmor Property Group and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brixmor Property Group	$1.37 billion	6.63	$386.23 million	$1.26	23.54
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	$726.59 million	6.80	$111.30 million	$0.89	44.10

Brixmor Property Group has higher revenue and earnings than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.. Brixmor Property Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Phillips Edison & Company, Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Brixmor Property Group and Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brixmor Property Group	28.16%	13.00%	4.37%
Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.	15.32%	4.29%	2.12%

Volatility and Risk

Brixmor Property Group has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.4% of Brixmor Property Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Brixmor Property Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Brixmor Property Group beats Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Brixmor Property Group

Brixmor Property Group, Inc. operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in owning and operating a portfolio of grocery anchored community and neighborhood shopping centers. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

About Phillips Edison & Company, Inc.

Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the ownership and operation of shopping centers. It also offers an investment management business providing property management and advisory services. Its portfolio consists of well-occupied, grocery-anchored neighborhood and community shopping centers having a mix of national, regional, and local retailers offering necessity-based goods and services. The company was founded by Jeffrey S. Edison and Michael C. Phillips in 1991 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.