Selective Insurance Group (SIGI) Competitors

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI) and Cincinnati Financial (NASDAQ:CINF) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and dividends.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of SIGI or CINF?

82.9% of Selective Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.2% of Cincinnati Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Selective Insurance Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Cincinnati Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, SIGI or CINF?

Cincinnati Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Selective Insurance Group. Cincinnati Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Selective Insurance Group, 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
Selective Insurance Group	$4.86B	0.97	$207.01M	$6.11	12.68
Cincinnati Financial	$11.67B	1.96	$2.29B	$11.53	12.68

Is SIGI or CINF more profitable?

Cincinnati Financial has a net margin of 15.59% compared to Selective Insurance Group's net margin of 7.50%. Selective Insurance Group's return on equity of 12.61% beat Cincinnati Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Selective Insurance Group	7.50%	12.61%	2.75%
Cincinnati Financial	15.59%	7.14%	2.66%

Which has more volatility and risk, SIGI or CINF?

Selective Insurance Group has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cincinnati Financial has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SIGI or CINF a better dividend stock?

Selective Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Cincinnati Financial pays an annual dividend of $3.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Selective Insurance Group pays out 24.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cincinnati Financial pays out 30.2% 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. Selective Insurance Group has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years and Cincinnati Financial has raised its dividend for 65 consecutive years. Cincinnati Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to SIGI or CINF?

In the previous week, Cincinnati Financial had 18 more articles in the media than Selective Insurance Group. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Cincinnati Financial and 23 mentions for Selective Insurance Group. Cincinnati Financial's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat Selective Insurance Group's score of 0.85 indicating that Cincinnati Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Selective Insurance Group	11 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cincinnati Financial	20 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer SIGI or CINF?

Selective Insurance Group currently has a consensus price target of $91.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.46%. Cincinnati Financial has a consensus price target of $159.20, suggesting a potential upside of 8.90%. Given Selective Insurance Group's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Selective Insurance Group is more favorable than Cincinnati Financial.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Selective Insurance Group	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Cincinnati Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Summary

Cincinnati Financial beats Selective Insurance Group on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.