Quilter (QLT) Competitors

Quilter (LON:QLT) and St. James's Place (LON:STJ) are both mid-cap financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in QLT or STJ?

79.1% of Quilter shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.6% of St. James's Place shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.7% of Quilter shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of St. James's Place shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, QLT or STJ?

Quilter has higher earnings, but lower revenue than St. James's Place. St. James's Place is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Quilter, 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
Quilter	£6.38B	0.34	£49.61M	£3.72	44.10
St. James's Place	£26.27B	0.25	-£6.46M	-£1.19	-1,026.31

Does the media refer more to QLT or STJ?

In the previous week, St. James's Place had 3 more articles in the media than Quilter. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for St. James's Place and 3 mentions for Quilter. Quilter's average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat St. James' Place's score of 0.42 indicating that Quilter is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Quilter	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
St. James's Place	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is QLT or STJ more profitable?

Quilter has a net margin of 0.78% compared to St. James' Place's net margin of -0.02%. Quilter's return on equity of 3.33% beat St. James' Place's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Quilter	0.78%	3.33%	0.21%
St. James's Place	-0.02%	-0.63%	0.22%

Do analysts recommend QLT or STJ?

Quilter currently has a consensus target price of GBX 150.50, indicating a potential downside of 8.23%. St. James's Place has a consensus target price of GBX 1,170, indicating a potential downside of 4.45%. Given St. James' Place's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe St. James's Place is more favorable than Quilter.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Quilter	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
St. James's Place	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is QLT or STJ a better dividend stock?

Quilter pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. St. James's Place pays an annual dividend of GBX 14 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Quilter pays out 134.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. St. James's Place pays out -1,173.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Which has more risk & volatility, QLT or STJ?

Quilter has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, St. James's Place has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Quilter and St. James's Place tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.