Donegal Group (DGICA) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HTH or DGICA?

Hilltop received 24 more outperform votes than Donegal Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.15% of users gave Donegal Group an outperform vote while only 52.48% of users gave Hilltop an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hilltop	Outperform Votes 243 52.48%	Underperform Votes 220 47.52%
Donegal Group	Outperform Votes 219 56.15%	Underperform Votes 171 43.85%

Is HTH or DGICA a better dividend stock?

Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Donegal Group pays an annual dividend of $0.73 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Hilltop pays out 36.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Donegal Group pays out 35.6% 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, HTH or DGICA?

Hilltop has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Donegal Group has a beta of -0.05, meaning that its stock price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer HTH or DGICA?

Hilltop presently has a consensus target price of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.75%. Donegal Group has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential downside of 6.98%. Given Hilltop's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hilltop is more favorable than Donegal Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hilltop	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Donegal Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to HTH or DGICA?

In the previous week, Hilltop had 12 more articles in the media than Donegal Group. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Hilltop and 13 mentions for Donegal Group. Donegal Group's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Hilltop's score of 0.88 indicating that Donegal Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hilltop	12 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Donegal Group	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, HTH or DGICA?

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
Hilltop	$1.16B	1.66	$113.21M	$1.97	14.99
Donegal Group	$989.61M	0.70	$4.43M	$2.05	9.44

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

57.1% of Hilltop shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.0% of Donegal Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.3% of Hilltop shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Donegal Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is HTH or DGICA more profitable?

Hilltop has a net margin of 7.04% compared to Donegal Group's net margin of 5.14%. Donegal Group's return on equity of 9.50% beat Hilltop's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hilltop	7.04%	5.18%	0.71%
Donegal Group	5.14%	9.50%	2.02%

Summary

Hilltop beats Donegal Group on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.