Universal Insurance (UVE) Competitors

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) and Universal Insurance (NYSE:UVE) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, valuation and profitability.

Which has better earnings & valuation, HTH or UVE?

Hilltop has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Universal Insurance. Universal Insurance is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hilltop, 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
Hilltop	$1.16B	1.67	$113.21M	$1.97	15.10
Universal Insurance	$1.52B	0.45	$66.82M	$2.29	10.57

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HTH or UVE?

Universal Insurance received 51 more outperform votes than Hilltop when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.05% of users gave Universal Insurance an outperform vote while only 52.48% of users gave Hilltop an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hilltop	Outperform Votes 243 52.48%	Underperform Votes 220 47.52%
Universal Insurance	Outperform Votes 294 64.05%	Underperform Votes 165 35.95%

Does the media prefer HTH or UVE?

In the previous week, Hilltop had 11 more articles in the media than Universal Insurance. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Hilltop and 14 mentions for Universal Insurance. Universal Insurance's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat Hilltop's score of 0.88 indicating that Universal Insurance is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hilltop	12 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Universal Insurance	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, HTH or UVE?

Hilltop has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Universal Insurance has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend HTH or UVE?

Hilltop presently has a consensus target price of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.96%. Given Hilltop's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hilltop is more favorable than Universal Insurance.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hilltop	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Universal Insurance	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is HTH or UVE more profitable?

Hilltop has a net margin of 7.04% compared to Universal Insurance's net margin of 4.82%. Universal Insurance's return on equity of 15.43% beat Hilltop's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hilltop	7.04%	5.18%	0.71%
Universal Insurance	4.82%	15.43%	2.37%

Is HTH or UVE a better dividend stock?

Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Universal Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Hilltop pays out 36.5% 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. Universal Insurance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in HTH or UVE?

57.1% of Hilltop shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.6% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.3% of Hilltop shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Universal Insurance beats Hilltop on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.