Head-To-Head Review: Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) & First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey (OTCMKTS:FREVS)

Mid-America Apartment Communities (NYSE:MAA) and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey (OTCMKTS:FREVS) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mid-America Apartment Communities and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mid-America Apartment Communities	$2.21 billion	6.74	$446.91 million	$3.42	37.55
First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.69	12.57

Mid-America Apartment Communities has higher revenue and earnings than First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey. First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mid-America Apartment Communities, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Mid-America Apartment Communities and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mid-America Apartment Communities	18.17%	6.99%	3.37%
First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Mid-America Apartment Communities and First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mid-America Apartment Communities	1	11	8	0	2.35
First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey	0	0	0	0	0.00

Mid-America Apartment Communities presently has a consensus target price of $144.81, indicating a potential upside of 12.77%. Given Mid-America Apartment Communities’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Mid-America Apartment Communities is more favorable than First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Mid-America Apartment Communities shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey shares are held by company 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.

Dividends

Mid-America Apartment Communities pays an annual dividend of $6.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.3%. Mid-America Apartment Communities pays out 178.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey pays out 92.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Mid-America Apartment Communities has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Mid-America Apartment Communities beats First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mid-America Apartment Communities

Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, which engages in the operation, acquisition, and development of apartment communities. It operates through the Same Store and Non-Same Store segments. The Same Store Communities segment represents those apartment communities that have been owned and stabilized for at least 12 months as of the first day of the calendar year. The Non-Same Store segment includes recent acquisitions, communities in development or lease-up. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Germantown, TN.

About First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey

First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, Inc. is a publicly traded (over-the-counter symbol FREVS) REIT organized in 1961. Its portfolio of residential and commercial properties are located in New Jersey and New York, with the largest concentration in northern New Jersey.