RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE:RLJ) versus Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE:HR) Head to Head Analysis

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

Risk & Volatility

RLJ Lodging Trust has a beta of 1.7, meaning that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Healthcare Realty Trust has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
RLJ Lodging Trust	4.93%	3.34%	1.35%
Healthcare Realty Trust	-37.53%	-7.22%	-3.91%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.3% of RLJ Lodging Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of RLJ Lodging Trust shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Healthcare Realty Trust shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
RLJ Lodging Trust	1	3	4	0	2.38
Healthcare Realty Trust	1	6	2	0	2.11

RLJ Lodging Trust currently has a consensus price target of $12.69, suggesting a potential upside of 37.76%. Healthcare Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $17.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.24%. Given RLJ Lodging Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe RLJ Lodging Trust is more favorable than Healthcare Realty Trust.

Dividends

RLJ Lodging Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. Healthcare Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.0%. RLJ Lodging Trust pays out 214.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Healthcare Realty Trust pays out -93.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Healthcare Realty Trust is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares RLJ Lodging Trust and Healthcare Realty Trust’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
RLJ Lodging Trust	$1.35 billion	1.06	$76.40 million	$0.28	32.82
Healthcare Realty Trust	$1.32 billion	5.07	-$278.26 million	($1.33)	-13.25

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

Summary

RLJ Lodging Trust beats Healthcare Realty Trust on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About RLJ Lodging Trust

RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns primarily premium-branded, high-margin, focused-service and compact full-service hotels. The Company's portfolio currently consists of 96 hotels with approximately 21,200 rooms, located in 23 states and the District of Columbia and an ownership interest in one unconsolidated hotel with 171 rooms.

About Healthcare Realty Trust

Healthcare Realty (NYSE: HR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns and operates medical outpatient buildings primarily located around market-leading hospital campuses. The Company selectively grows its portfolio through property acquisition and development. As the first and largest REIT to specialize in medical outpatient buildings, Healthcare Realty's portfolio includes more than 700 properties totaling over 40 million square feet concentrated in 15 growth markets.