The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG) and Alleghany (NYSE:Y) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.
Profitability
This table compares The Hartford Financial Services Group and Alleghany's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
The Hartford Financial Services Group | 8.50% | 12.19% | 2.80% |
Alleghany | -0.76% | 1.32% | 0.42% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for The Hartford Financial Services Group and Alleghany, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
The Hartford Financial Services Group | 0 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 2.86 |
Alleghany | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.00 |
The Hartford Financial Services Group presently has a consensus target price of $54.6429, indicating a potential upside of 5.90%. Alleghany has a consensus target price of $800.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.83%. Given Alleghany's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Alleghany is more favorable than The Hartford Financial Services Group.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
90.5% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Alleghany shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of Alleghany shares are held by company 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.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares The Hartford Financial Services Group and Alleghany's revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
The Hartford Financial Services Group | $20.74 billion | 0.89 | $2.09 billion | $5.65 | 9.13 |
Alleghany | $9.04 billion | 0.99 | $857.80 million | $23.77 | 26.96 |
The Hartford Financial Services Group has higher revenue and earnings than Alleghany. The Hartford Financial Services Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alleghany, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility and Risk
The Hartford Financial Services Group has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alleghany has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
The Hartford Financial Services Group beats Alleghany on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.