The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) and Horace Mann Educators (NYSE:HMN) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares The Hanover Insurance Group and Horace Mann Educators' revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| The Hanover Insurance Group | $4.89 billion | 1.01 | $425.10 million | $8.16 | 16.56 |
| Horace Mann Educators | $1.43 billion | 1.21 | $184.44 million | $2.20 | 19.05 |
The Hanover Insurance Group has higher revenue and earnings than Horace Mann Educators. The Hanover Insurance Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Horace Mann Educators, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
The Hanover Insurance Group has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Horace Mann Educators has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
The Hanover Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Horace Mann Educators pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. The Hanover Insurance Group pays out 34.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Horace Mann Educators pays out 56.4% 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 Hanover Insurance Group has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Horace Mann Educators has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for The Hanover Insurance Group and Horace Mann Educators, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| The Hanover Insurance Group | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2.60 |
| Horace Mann Educators | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
The Hanover Insurance Group currently has a consensus price target of $130.20, indicating a potential downside of 3.68%. Horace Mann Educators has a consensus price target of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.40%. Given Horace Mann Educators' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Horace Mann Educators is more favorable than The Hanover Insurance Group.
Profitability
This table compares The Hanover Insurance Group and Horace Mann Educators' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| The Hanover Insurance Group | 6.35% | 10.90% | 2.54% |
| Horace Mann Educators | 9.18% | 7.96% | 1.02% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
85.0% of The Hanover Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of The Hanover Insurance Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Horace Mann Educators shares are owned by 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 Hanover Insurance Group beats Horace Mann Educators on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
