Assurant (AIZ) Competitors

The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG) and Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and media sentiment.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of HIG or AIZ?

93.4% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.7% of Assurant shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Assurant shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, HIG or AIZ?

The Hartford Financial Services Group has higher revenue and earnings than Assurant. The Hartford Financial Services Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assurant, 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
The Hartford Financial Services Group	$26.76B	1.33	$3.11B	$10.03	12.53
Assurant	$11.88B	0.84	$760.20M	$14.47	13.61

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HIG or AIZ?

The Hartford Financial Services Group received 375 more outperform votes than Assurant when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.34% of users gave The Hartford Financial Services Group an outperform vote while only 57.61% of users gave Assurant an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
The Hartford Financial Services Group	Outperform Votes 674 66.34%	Underperform Votes 342 33.66%
Assurant	Outperform Votes 299 57.61%	Underperform Votes 220 42.39%

Does the media favor HIG or AIZ?

In the previous week, The Hartford Financial Services Group had 18 more articles in the media than Assurant. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for The Hartford Financial Services Group and 17 mentions for Assurant. Assurant's average media sentiment score of 1.64 beat The Hartford Financial Services Group's score of 0.85 indicating that Assurant is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
The Hartford Financial Services Group	16 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Assurant	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is HIG or AIZ a better dividend stock?

The Hartford Financial Services Group pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. The Hartford Financial Services Group pays out 20.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Assurant pays out 22.1% 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. The Hartford Financial Services Group has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Assurant has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years. The Hartford Financial Services Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is HIG or AIZ more profitable?

The Hartford Financial Services Group has a net margin of 11.72% compared to Assurant's net margin of 6.40%. The Hartford Financial Services Group's return on equity of 19.55% beat Assurant's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
The Hartford Financial Services Group	11.72%	19.55%	3.88%
Assurant	6.40%	17.25%	2.55%

Do analysts prefer HIG or AIZ?

The Hartford Financial Services Group presently has a consensus price target of $126.87, suggesting a potential upside of 0.96%. Assurant has a consensus price target of $234.17, suggesting a potential upside of 18.86%. Given Assurant's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Assurant is more favorable than The Hartford Financial Services Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
The Hartford Financial Services Group	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Assurant	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Which has more volatility and risk, HIG or AIZ?

The Hartford Financial Services Group has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assurant has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

The Hartford Financial Services Group beats Assurant on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.