Hilltop (HTH) Competitors

RLI (NYSE:RLI) and Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership and valuation.

Does the media favor RLI or HTH?

In the previous week, RLI had 5 more articles in the media than Hilltop. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for RLI and 0 mentions for Hilltop. RLI's average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Hilltop's score of 1.00 indicating that RLI is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
RLI	Positive
Hilltop	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, RLI or HTH?

RLI has higher revenue and earnings than Hilltop. Hilltop is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than RLI, 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
RLI	$1.77B	3.65	$345.78M	$3.04	23.13
Hilltop	$1.61B	1.25	$113.21M	$1.97	15.89

Which has more volatility & risk, RLI or HTH?

RLI has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hilltop has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of RLI or HTH?

77.9% of RLI shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of Hilltop shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of RLI shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 29.9% of Hilltop shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is RLI or HTH more profitable?

RLI has a net margin of 16.22% compared to Hilltop's net margin of 7.87%. RLI's return on equity of 16.26% beat Hilltop's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
RLI	16.22%	16.26%	4.63%
Hilltop	7.87%	5.79%	0.80%

Do analysts prefer RLI or HTH?

RLI presently has a consensus target price of $78.60, indicating a potential upside of 11.77%. Hilltop has a consensus target price of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.43%. Given RLI's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe RLI is more favorable than Hilltop.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
RLI	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14
Hilltop	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is RLI or HTH a better dividend stock?

RLI pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. RLI pays out 21.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hilltop pays out 36.5% 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. RLI has raised its dividend for 51 consecutive years and Hilltop has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Summary

RLI beats Hilltop on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.