In this article, we discuss the top 10 real estate stocks to buy now. You can skip our comprehensive analysis of the real estate industry and go directly to Top 5 Real Estate Stocks to Buy Now.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) own and usually operate real estate-related assets such as buildings, shopping malls, apartments, hotels, resorts, self-storage facilities, warehouses, and mortgages or loans. Real estate stocks are one of the great investments of all time due to the high dividend yields compared to other stocks since these companies are required to give back 90% of their profits to the investors as dividends.
The rapid rise of work-from-home trends around the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic affected the property sector. Despite this, a study by PWC reported that the industry continues to demonstrate its resilience by maintaining liquidity in capital markets. Real estate stocks were one of the top-performing sectors in S&P 500 with a total return of +46.2% last year. This is projected to improve this 2022 as things are returning to normal.
The leading subsector under REITs based on the Emerging Trends survey is the industrial/distribution subsector as it shows substantial investment and development prospects. Some of the stocks listed under this subsector are Americold Realty Trust (NYSE:COLD), STAG Industrial (NYSE:STAG), and Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PINE). Companies such as Essential Properties Realty Trust (NYSE:EPRT), Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA), and UMH Properties (NYSE:UMH) rank behind as demand for housing for single-family and multifamily is predicted to rise with rents and pricing returning to previous highs. Hotels, offices, and retail were severely hit during the outbreak but have since recovered.
PGIM real estate reported that there are nine trends to look out for when considering investing in REITs. The nine trends are: Recovery turning to expansion, cities making a comeback, retail being back on the agenda, supply outlook remaining subdued, push for larger deals as investment volume grows, debt supply shifting toward a greater provision of non-bank capital, operational deals gaining further popularity, intensifying on the focus on green investments, and widening of the performance gap. Confidence in the business and profitability forecasts are high and are expected to grow further in the future years. Grand View Research predicts that the global market size of real estate will reach $5.85 trillion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% starting this year.
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Our Methodology
We created a list of the top 10 real estate stocks to buy now. For each stock, we mentioned the hedge fund sentiment, dividend yield, number of hedge fund holders, market capitalization, latest dividend payout, and future growth catalysts.
With this context in mind, let’s now examine our list of the top 10 real estate stocks to buy now.
Top 10 Best Real Estate Stocks to Buy Now
10. Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE:HIW)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 17
Forward Dividend Yield as of August 6, 2022: 5.9%
Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE:HIW) is a fully-integrated office REIT that owns, develops, acquires, leases, and manages properties primarily in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Richmond, and Tampa’s best business districts (BBDs). The company owns 26.9 million square feet of space which are leased to over 1500 customers. According to their most recent report, 91.1% of their 162 buildings are already occupied across the eight markets mentioned.
Headquartered in Raleigh, the district accounts for 24% of HIW’s Net Operating Income (NOI), followed by Nashville at 22%, and Atlanta at 16%. The company recently acquired two sites in Charlotte, one in the Uptown CBD submarket and the other in the South End submarket. This represents a total investment of $230 million. The company continues to acquire, disposition, and develop across the BBDs.
The reported revenue of HIW for the first quarter of 2022 is $206.38 million which is a 12.3% year-on-year increase. According to the company’s profitability metrics, the Funds from Operations (FFO) for the first quarter was $1.03 per share, exceeding the $0.97 consensus. With this strong start, Highwoods raised its 2022 FFO outlook to $3.82-$3.98 per share, up from the previous range of $3.76-$3.92 considering the management’s view of the current and future market conditions. Even though the number of buildings has decreased over time, the average lease term has increased by 31% over the last decade. The company has a $3.6 billion market capitalization.
Insider Monkey has 17 hedge funds following Highwoods Properties, which has a forward dividend yield of 5.9% as of August 6, 2022. The board of directors declared a dividend of $0.50 per share this June 14, 2022. Mizuho rated Highwoods Properties Inc. (NYSE:HIW) Neutral with a price target of $46.
9. Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 21
Forward Dividend Yield as of August 6, 2022: 3.66%
Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC) was founded in 1971 by Executive Chairman Richard Agree with the goal to acquire and develop properties leased to major merchants. It was publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1994 and has since grown its portfolio to 1,404 properties in 47 states with a total leasable space of 29 million square feet.
Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) holds 6.6% of ADC’s share with an annualized based rent of $24.5 million. This is followed by Tractor Supply Co (NASDAQ: TSCO), Dollar General Corp (NYSE:DG), and Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE: BBY). The company mainly focuses on retailers in the grocery, home improvement, and convenience store sectors which are all-time essentials, thus, keeping them firm in any situation.
ADC has a market capitalization of $5.50 billion and a price per share of $73.11 based on the latest report of July 2022. Insider Monkey has 21 hedge funds following Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC), which has a forward dividend yield of 3.66%. According to the company’s report, the adjusted FFO for the first quarter was $0.97, exceeding the $0.94 consensus. With total revenue of $98.34 million, the company beat the consensus of $96.12 million for the quarter.
The company is considered to have performed well over the past five years with a total shareholder return of 87.4%. Since 1994, the stock has returned a 13% compound annualized return, with 5.5% compound annualized dividend growth since 2012. ADC declared a dividend of $0.234 per share last June 2022.
Berenberg Bank and Baird maintained a buy rating for Agree Realty Corporation (NYSE:ADC). This stock is JMP Securities analyst Mitch Germain’s “top pick” since the company’s portfolio has proven to be “stout”, as seen by the fact that rents were still collected during the pandemic. Moreover, he stated that the company’s asset-recycling operations, while less vulnerable to economic fluctuations, positioned rentals to high-credit renters. Germain gave Agree Realty an Outperform rating with a price objective of $81.
8. Regency Centers Corporation (NASDAQ:REG)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 18
Forward Dividend Yield as of August 6, 2022: 3.98%
Regency Centers Corporation (NASDAQ:REG) is a self-administered and self-managed REIT that owns and operates grocery-anchored neighborhoods and community centers. The company was founded in 1963 and has grown its total market capitalization to $17 billion today. This is the second-largest shopping center REIT with more than 400 properties, 80% of which are grocery-anchored. The company is most visible in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC.
Regency’s top tenants are Publix, Kroger Co (NYSE:KR), Amazon Whole Foods (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Albertsons Companies Inc. (NYSE:ACI) as the company continues to focus on necessity, service, convenience, and value. This stock works with well-known retailers around the United States in a variety of categories including essential retail and services, essential restaurants, and other retail and services.
REG consistently grew its dividends per share at a CAGR of 3.6% over the past eight years. Their Net Operating Income (NOI) is in a range of 2.5% to 3.0% annually which is primarily driven by contractual rent steps and releasing of space, and redevelopment activities. The reported Funds from Operations (FFO) per diluted share is $1.03 and guided for $3.87 per diluted share for 2022. A cash dividend of $0.6250 per share was given to the investors last July 6, 2022.
With 18 hedge fund holders based on Insider Monkey’s latest report and a dividend yield of 3.98%, REG positions among the top 5 best real estate stocks to buy now.
Richard Hill from Morgan Stanley sustained a Hold rating for Regency Centers Corporation (NASDAQ:REG) with a target price of $63. Juan C. Sanabria from BMO Capital kept a Buy rating for REG with a target price of $78. In general, The Street maintained a moderate buy rating for this stock.
7. Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE:SUI)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 36
Forward Dividend Yield as of August 6, 2022: 2.2%
Sun Communities, Inc. (NYSE:SUI) is a fully integrated REIT established in 1975 and became publicly owned in 1993. With 646 developed MH, RV, and marina properties in 39 states in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom, the company is the leading owner and operator of manufactured housing (MH) communities, and recreation vehicles (RV) resorts, and marinas. Almost half of its revenue is generated from manufactured housing, 33% from RV, and the rest from marinas. One of the company’s strategies is property acquisition, and they were able to acquire $11.1 billion in properties over the decade, increasing the number of properties by 4.8x.
The company has experienced positive same community NOI growth consistently over the last 20 years which infers consistent and cycle-tested organic cash flow growth. Given the same period, SUI’s average annual same community NOI growth was 5.1% beating multi-family REITs of 2.5%. The company outperformed major REIT and broader market indices over the last ten years with 433.8% growth versus 260.7% growth for the S&P 500 and 120.6% growth for the MSCI IS REIT (RMS).
The company has 36 hedge fund holders and a forward dividend yield of 2.2%. The reported Q1 FFO is $1.34 beating the $1.33 expectation. This is a 6.3% growth in core FFO per share as confirmed by Chairman and CEO Gary Shiffman. Given this tailwind, the company increases its forecasted core FFO for 2022 to $7.20-$7.32 from the previous forecast of $7.07-$7.23 and a consensus of $7.19. The company also exceeded the $498.18 million revenue consensus by declaring $548.5 million in revenue last quarter.
SUI is paying a cash dividend of $0.88 per share in July. This REIT’s dividend has never dropped by more than 10% in the last ten years. The company has a market capitalization of $19.552 billion today.
Truist initiated a buy rating for Sun Communities with a price target of $185. The analyst believes that the market for housing communities, RV resorts, marinas, and holiday parks can provide “outsized growth at a reasonable valuation.” This comment is followed by JMP securities expecting the company’s internal and external growth to generate “outsized value creation.” and giving it an Outperform rating with a $220 price target.
6. Prologis, Inc. (NYSE:PLD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 37
Forward Dividend Yield as of August 6, 2022: 2.16%
Prologis Inc. (NYSE:PLD) is the leading logistics real estate company with 984 million square feet worth of co-investment ventures, properties, and development in 19 countries. The company focuses on leasing to business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment customers including Amazon Com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD), FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX). With 98.1% leased as of March 2022, the company’s current market capitalization is $84.30 billion.
The world’s largest warehouse owner recently acquired Duke Realty Corp. (NYSE:DRE) which will add 160 million square feet to PLD’s portfolio. Shareholders of Prologis will own 80% of the REIT after this transaction while 20% will be going to DRE shareholders. The acquisition will be accretive in the first and second years when they plan to hold 94% of Duke’s portfolio. This is expected to increase FFO in the first year following the closing by the end of the year.
Prologis continues to report all-time highs this 2022 wherein the company posted an FFO of $1.09 during the first quarter which beats the consensus estimates by $0.02 per share. This is 12.4% more than last year’s result of $0.97 per share. In addition, they achieved $1.22 billion of revenue during the first quarter, beating Wall Street’s estimates. This represents a 6.1% year-on-year growth. The reported price per share increase during the last 5 years is +218% and +399% during the past decade, outperforming S&P 500 which gained 90.85% over the last 5 years and 224.08% over the last 10 years.
Investors of Prologis received a dividend of $0.79 per share of the company’s common stock and a dividend of $1.0675 per share of the company’s 8.54% series Q cumulative redeemable preferred stock last June 30, 2022. The company has a 2.16% forward dividend yield and 37 hedgefund holders.
While the recession will negatively impact most industries, this isn’t the case for industrial real estate. The rapid rise in industrial rents makes it much easier for landlords to come down hard on any deadbeat tenants. The company continues to grow amidst today’s volatile market and economic environment which makes it one of the top 10 best real estate stocks to buy now. Wells Fargo keeps an Overweight rating for Prologis lowering the price target from $184 to $160.
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Disclosure: None. Top 10 Real Estate Stocks to Buy Now is originally published on Insider Monkey.