Donegal Group (DGICA) Competitors

Donegal Group (NASDAQ:DGICA) and Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, media sentiment, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend DGICA or HTH?

Donegal Group presently has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.76%. Hilltop has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.48%. Given Donegal Group's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Donegal Group is more favorable than Hilltop.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Donegal Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Hilltop	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in DGICA or HTH?

28.0% of Donegal Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of Hilltop shares are held by institutional investors. 6.6% of Donegal Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.9% of Hilltop shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, DGICA or HTH?

Hilltop has higher revenue and earnings than Donegal Group. Donegal Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hilltop, 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
Donegal Group	$989.60M	0.62	$50.86M	$2.38	7.08
Hilltop	$1.16B	1.64	$113.21M	$2.23	13.60

Is DGICA or HTH a better dividend stock?

Donegal Group pays an annual dividend of $0.73 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Donegal Group pays out 30.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hilltop pays out 32.3% 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. Donegal Group has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Hilltop has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Donegal Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media favor DGICA or HTH?

In the previous week, Donegal Group and Donegal Group both had 1 articles in the media. Donegal Group's average media sentiment score of 1.76 beat Hilltop's score of 1.67 indicating that Donegal Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Donegal Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Hilltop	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, DGICA or HTH?

Donegal Group has a beta of 0.01, meaning that its share price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hilltop has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is DGICA or HTH more profitable?

Hilltop has a net margin of 8.90% compared to Donegal Group's net margin of 8.33%. Donegal Group's return on equity of 14.33% beat Hilltop's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Donegal Group	8.33%	14.33%	3.41%
Hilltop	8.90%	6.46%	0.91%

Summary

Hilltop beats Donegal Group on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.