Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) and The Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.
Dividends
Investors Title pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. The Travelers Companies pays an annual dividend of $3.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. The Travelers Companies pays out 35.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Travelers Companies has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. The Travelers Companies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Risk and Volatility
Investors Title has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Travelers Companies has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Investors Title and The Travelers Companies' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Investors Title | 16.10% | 17.38% | 12.56% |
The Travelers Companies | 7.13% | 8.63% | 2.04% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Investors Title and The Travelers Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Investors Title | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
The Travelers Companies | 3 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2.11 |
The Travelers Companies has a consensus target price of $135.20, indicating a potential downside of 10.10%. Given The Travelers Companies' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe The Travelers Companies is more favorable than Investors Title.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Investors Title and The Travelers Companies' gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Investors Title | $183.50 million | 1.61 | $31.46 million | N/A | N/A |
The Travelers Companies | $31.58 billion | 1.20 | $2.62 billion | $9.60 | 15.67 |
The Travelers Companies has higher revenue and earnings than Investors Title.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
45.2% of Investors Title shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.8% of The Travelers Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 26.4% of Investors Title shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of The Travelers Companies shares are held by company 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.
Summary
The Travelers Companies beats Investors Title on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.