Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) and Dynex Capital (NYSE:DX) Head-To-Head Comparison

Dynex Capital (NYSE:DX) and Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

38.3% of Dynex Capital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of Essential Properties Realty Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Dynex Capital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Essential Properties Realty Trust shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Dynex Capital and Essential Properties Realty Trust, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dynex Capital	0	1	3	0	2.75
Essential Properties Realty Trust	0	3	11	0	2.79

Dynex Capital currently has a consensus price target of $12.83, suggesting a potential upside of 3.16%. Essential Properties Realty Trust has a consensus price target of $34.91, suggesting a potential upside of 8.65%. Given Essential Properties Realty Trust’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Essential Properties Realty Trust is more favorable than Dynex Capital.

Profitability

This table compares Dynex Capital and Essential Properties Realty Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dynex Capital	35.65%	-2.24%	-0.30%
Essential Properties Realty Trust	45.15%	6.12%	3.76%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Dynex Capital and Essential Properties Realty Trust”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dynex Capital	$108.02 million	12.13	$113.90 million	$0.77	16.16
Essential Properties Realty Trust	$475.46 million	13.35	$203.00 million	$1.15	27.94

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

Volatility & Risk

Dynex Capital has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Essential Properties Realty Trust has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Dynex Capital pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.4%. Essential Properties Realty Trust pays an annual dividend of $1.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Dynex Capital pays out 264.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Essential Properties Realty Trust pays out 102.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Dynex Capital has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Essential Properties Realty Trust has raised its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Summary

Essential Properties Realty Trust beats Dynex Capital on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dynex Capital

Dynex Capital, Inc., a mortgage real estate investment trust, invests in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) on a leveraged basis in the United States. It invests in agency and non-agency MBS consisting of residential MBS, commercial MBS (CMBS), and CMBS interest-only securities. Agency MBS have a guaranty of principal payment by an agency of the U.S. government or a U.S. government-sponsored entity, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Non-Agency MBS have no such guaranty of payment. The company has qualified as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders as dividends. Dynex Capital, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia.

About Essential Properties Realty Trust

Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc., a real estate company, acquires, owns, and manages single-tenant properties in the United States. The company leases its properties to middle-market companies, such as restaurants, car washes, automotive services, medical and dental services, convenience stores, equipment rental, entertainment, early childhood education, grocery, and health and fitness on a long-term basis. As of December 31, 2021, it had a portfolio of 1, 451 properties. The company qualifies as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes. It generally would not be subject to federal corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to its stockholders. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.