Contrasting Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) and Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM)

Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) and Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Healthcare Realty Trust and Piedmont Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Healthcare Realty Trust	1	4	5	0	2.40
Piedmont Realty Trust	1	0	1	0	2.00

Healthcare Realty Trust currently has a consensus target price of $21.11, suggesting a potential upside of 3.89%. Piedmont Realty Trust has a consensus target price of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.55%. Given Piedmont Realty Trust’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Piedmont Realty Trust is more favorable than Healthcare Realty Trust.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.5% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Healthcare Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Piedmont Realty Trust shares are owned by company 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Healthcare Realty Trust and Piedmont Realty Trust”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Healthcare Realty Trust	$1.18 billion	5.96	-$246.07 million	($0.58)	-35.03
Piedmont Realty Trust	$564.99 million	2.00	-$83.62 million	($0.70)	-12.93

Piedmont Realty Trust has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Healthcare Realty Trust. Healthcare Realty Trust is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Piedmont Realty Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Healthcare Realty Trust and Piedmont Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Healthcare Realty Trust	-17.34%	-4.29%	-2.09%
Piedmont Realty Trust	-15.28%	-5.70%	-2.15%

Risk & Volatility

Healthcare Realty Trust has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piedmont Realty Trust has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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.

About Piedmont Realty Trust

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (also referred to herein as "Piedmont" or the "Company") (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in major U.S. Sunbelt markets. The Company is a fully-integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's. The Company was designated an Energy Star Partner of the Year for 2021, 2022 and 2023, and it was the only office REIT headquartered in the Southeast to receive those designations. Approximately 85% of the Company's square footage is Energy Star certified and nearly 70% is LEED certified. Piedmont is headquartered in Atlanta, GA.