Diamond Hill Investment Group (DHIL) Competitors

Diamond Hill Investment Group (NASDAQ:DHIL) and Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment and risk.

Do analysts rate DHIL or VRTS?

Virtus Investment Partners has a consensus target price of $188.25, suggesting a potential downside of 6.48%. Given Virtus Investment Partners' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Virtus Investment Partners is more favorable than Diamond Hill Investment Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Diamond Hill Investment Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Virtus Investment Partners	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.75

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in DHIL or VRTS?

65.5% of Diamond Hill Investment Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.5% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of Diamond Hill Investment Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Virtus Investment Partners shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is DHIL or VRTS a better dividend stock?

Diamond Hill Investment Group pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Virtus Investment Partners pays an annual dividend of $9.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Diamond Hill Investment Group pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Virtus Investment Partners pays out 46.7% 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.

Does the media prefer DHIL or VRTS?

In the previous week, Virtus Investment Partners had 1 more articles in the media than Diamond Hill Investment Group. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Virtus Investment Partners and 6 mentions for Diamond Hill Investment Group. Diamond Hill Investment Group's average media sentiment score of 1.66 beat Virtus Investment Partners' score of 1.61 indicating that Diamond Hill Investment Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Diamond Hill Investment Group	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Virtus Investment Partners	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is DHIL or VRTS more profitable?

Diamond Hill Investment Group has a net margin of 31.71% compared to Virtus Investment Partners' net margin of 13.42%. Virtus Investment Partners' return on equity of 21.56% beat Diamond Hill Investment Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Diamond Hill Investment Group	31.71%	21.38%	14.72%
Virtus Investment Partners	13.42%	21.56%	5.27%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, DHIL or VRTS?

Virtus Investment Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Diamond Hill Investment Group. Diamond Hill Investment Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Virtus Investment Partners, 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
Diamond Hill Investment Group	$151.10M	2.63	$43.18M	$17.58	8.29
Virtus Investment Partners	$884.72M	1.54	$121.75M	$20.54	9.80

Which has more volatility and risk, DHIL or VRTS?

Diamond Hill Investment Group has a beta of 0.8, meaning that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Virtus Investment Partners has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its share price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Virtus Investment Partners beats Diamond Hill Investment Group on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.