Hiscox (HSX) Competitors

Direct Line Insurance Group (LON:DLG) and Hiscox (LON:HSX) are both mid-cap financial services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, community ranking, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Which has more volatility & risk, DLG or HSX?

Direct Line Insurance Group has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hiscox has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is DLG or HSX a better dividend stock?

Direct Line Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Hiscox pays an annual dividend of GBX 30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Direct Line Insurance Group pays out 5,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hiscox pays out 1,886.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is DLG or HSX more profitable?

Hiscox has a net margin of 19.25% compared to Hiscox's net margin of 6.81%. Direct Line Insurance Group's return on equity of 24.01% beat Hiscox's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Direct Line Insurance Group	6.81%	9.70%	-0.83%
Hiscox	19.25%	24.01%	4.10%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, DLG or HSX?

Hiscox has higher revenue and earnings than Direct Line Insurance Group. Hiscox is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Direct Line Insurance Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Direct Line Insurance Group	£3.27B	0.82	£206.30M	£0.16	1,290.00
Hiscox	£3.70B	1.06	£712M	£1.59	716.98

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in DLG or HSX?

Direct Line Insurance Group received 345 more outperform votes than Hiscox when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.75% of users gave Direct Line Insurance Group an outperform vote while only 47.76% of users gave Hiscox an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Direct Line Insurance Group	Outperform Votes 728 63.75%	Underperform Votes 414 36.25%
Hiscox	Outperform Votes 383 47.76%	Underperform Votes 419 52.24%

Do analysts prefer DLG or HSX?

Direct Line Insurance Group presently has a consensus target price of GBX 212.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.96%. Hiscox has a consensus target price of GBX 1,215, suggesting a potential upside of 6.58%. Given Direct Line Insurance Group's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hiscox is more favorable than Direct Line Insurance Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Direct Line Insurance Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Hiscox	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20

Do insiders & institutionals believe in DLG or HSX?

99.9% of Direct Line Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.6% of Hiscox shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Direct Line Insurance Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Hiscox shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer DLG or HSX?

In the previous week, Direct Line Insurance Group had 7 more articles in the media than Hiscox. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Direct Line Insurance Group and 0 mentions for Hiscox. Hiscox's average media sentiment score of 0.43 beat Direct Line Insurance Group's score of 0.00 indicating that Direct Line Insurance Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Direct Line Insurance Group	Neutral
Hiscox	Neutral

Summary

Direct Line Insurance Group and Hiscox tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.