Universal Insurance (UVE) Competitors

HCI Group (NYSE:HCI) and Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Do analysts rate HCI or UVE?

HCI Group presently has a consensus price target of $181.25, indicating a potential downside of 3.92%. Given HCI Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe HCI Group is more favorable than Universal Insurance.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HCI Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.17
Universal Insurance	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is HCI or UVE a better dividend stock?

HCI Group pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Universal Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. HCI Group pays out 14.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Universal Insurance pays out 27.9% 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.

Which has better valuation & earnings, HCI or UVE?

HCI Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Universal Insurance. Universal Insurance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HCI 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
HCI Group	$775.69M	3.15	$109.95M	$11.28	16.72
Universal Insurance	$1.52B	0.54	$58.93M	$2.29	12.70

Do institutionals and insiders believe in HCI or UVE?

87.0% of HCI Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.6% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.9% of HCI Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer HCI or UVE?

In the previous week, HCI Group had 2 more articles in the media than Universal Insurance. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for HCI Group and 5 mentions for Universal Insurance. HCI Group's average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat Universal Insurance's score of 0.67 indicating that HCI Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HCI Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Universal Insurance	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is HCI or UVE more profitable?

HCI Group has a net margin of 18.58% compared to Universal Insurance's net margin of 4.24%. HCI Group's return on equity of 25.84% beat Universal Insurance's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HCI Group	18.58%	25.84%	6.58%
Universal Insurance	4.24%	15.37%	2.21%

Which has more volatility and risk, HCI or UVE?

HCI Group has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Universal Insurance has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

HCI Group beats Universal Insurance on 17 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.