Saul Centers (NYSE:BFS – Get Free Report) and Realty Income (NYSE:O – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and risk.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
50.0% of Saul Centers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.8% of Realty Income shares are held by institutional investors. 56.6% of Saul Centers shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Realty Income shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk & Volatility
Saul Centers has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Realty Income has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Saul Centers and Realty Income, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Saul Centers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Realty Income | 0 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 2.40 |
Saul Centers presently has a consensus price target of $43.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.34%. Realty Income has a consensus price target of $61.57, indicating a potential upside of 1.65%. Given Saul Centers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Saul Centers is more favorable than Realty Income.
Profitability
This table compares Saul Centers and Realty Income’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Saul Centers | 20.49% | 16.65% | 2.71% |
| Realty Income | 17.74% | 3.26% | 1.32% |
Dividends
Saul Centers pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Realty Income pays an annual dividend of $3.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. Saul Centers pays out 136.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Realty Income pays out 291.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Realty Income has increased its dividend for 32 consecutive years. Saul Centers is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Saul Centers and Realty Income’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Saul Centers | $264.08 million | 3.49 | $52.69 million | $1.73 | 22.18 |
| Realty Income | $4.72 billion | 11.19 | $872.31 million | $1.08 | 56.08 |
Realty Income has higher revenue and earnings than Saul Centers. Saul Centers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Realty Income, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Saul Centers beats Realty Income on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Saul Centers
(Get Free Report)
Saul Centers is a self-managed, self-administered equity REIT headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Saul Centers currently operates and manages a real estate portfolio comprised of 61 properties that includes (a) 57 community and neighborhood Shopping Centers and Mixed-Use properties with approximately 9.8 million square feet of leasable area and (b) four land and development properties. Over 85% of the Company’s property operating income is generated from properties in the metropolitan Washington, DC/Baltimore area.
About Realty Income
(Get Free Report)
Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 15,450 real estate properties (including properties acquired in the Spirit merger in January 2024) primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. To date, the company has declared 644 consecutive monthly dividends on its shares of common stock throughout its 55-year operating history and increased the dividend 123 times since Realty Income’s public listing in 1994 (NYSE: O).
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