Universal Insurance (UVE) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in UVE or HTH?

66.6% of Universal Insurance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of Hilltop shares are held by institutional investors. 16.6% of Universal Insurance shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.9% of Hilltop shares are held 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.

Is UVE or HTH more profitable?

Hilltop has a net margin of 8.90% compared to Universal Insurance's net margin of 4.24%. Universal Insurance's return on equity of 15.37% beat Hilltop's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Insurance	4.24%	15.37%	2.21%
Hilltop	8.90%	6.46%	0.91%

Is UVE or HTH a better dividend stock?

Universal Insurance pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Universal Insurance pays out 27.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hilltop pays out 32.3% 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. Hilltop has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Universal Insurance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk & volatility, UVE or HTH?

Universal Insurance has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hilltop has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer UVE or HTH?

In the previous week, Universal Insurance had 2 more articles in the media than Hilltop. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Universal Insurance and 1 mentions for Hilltop. Hilltop's average media sentiment score of 1.67 beat Universal Insurance's score of -0.37 indicating that Hilltop is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Which has higher earnings and valuation, UVE or HTH?

Hilltop has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Universal Insurance	$1.57B	0.42	$58.93M	$2.29	10.27
Hilltop	$1.16B	1.65	$113.21M	$2.23	13.62

Do analysts recommend UVE or HTH?

Hilltop has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.33%. Given Hilltop's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hilltop is more favorable than Universal Insurance.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Universal Insurance	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Hilltop	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Summary

Hilltop beats Universal Insurance on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.