UVE vs. UFCS, PRA, DGICA, GBLI, AMSF, EIG, HCI, SAFT, TIPT, and HIPO
Should you be buying Universal Insurance stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Universal Insurance include United Fire Group (UFCS), ProAssurance (PRA), Donegal Group (DGICA), Global Indemnity Group (GBLI), AMERISAFE (AMSF), Employers (EIG), HCI Group (HCI), Safety Insurance Group (SAFT), Tiptree (TIPT), and Hippo (HIPO). These companies are all part of the "fire, marine, & casualty insurance" industry.
Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) and United Fire Group (NASDAQ:UFCS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, risk, community ranking, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.
In the previous week, Universal Insurance had 8 more articles in the media than United Fire Group. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Universal Insurance and 4 mentions for United Fire Group. Universal Insurance's average media sentiment score of 0.71 beat United Fire Group's score of -0.42 indicating that Universal Insurance is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Universal Insurance has a net margin of 4.80% compared to United Fire Group's net margin of -2.71%. Universal Insurance's return on equity of 18.14% beat United Fire Group's return on equity.
Universal Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. United Fire Group pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Universal Insurance pays out 29.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Fire Group pays out -54.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Universal Insurance presently has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.94%. United Fire Group has a consensus target price of $21.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.53%. Given Universal Insurance's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Universal Insurance is more favorable than United Fire Group.
66.6% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of United Fire Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.7% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of United Fire Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Universal Insurance has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Fire Group has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Universal Insurance has higher revenue and earnings than United Fire Group. United Fire Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Universal Insurance, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Universal Insurance received 64 more outperform votes than United Fire Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.23% of users gave Universal Insurance an outperform vote while only 58.60% of users gave United Fire Group an outperform vote.
Summary
Universal Insurance beats United Fire Group on 18 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding UVE and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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