United Fire Group (UFCS) Competitors

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

Is HTH or UFCS a better dividend stock?

Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. United Fire Group pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Hilltop pays out 41.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. United Fire Group pays out 33.0% 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. United Fire Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HTH or UFCS?

Hilltop received 22 more outperform votes than United Fire Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.31% of users gave United Fire Group an outperform vote while only 52.83% of users gave Hilltop an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hilltop	Outperform Votes 243 52.83%	Underperform Votes 217 47.17%
United Fire Group	Outperform Votes 221 58.31%	Underperform Votes 158 41.69%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in HTH or UFCS?

57.1% of Hilltop shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of United Fire Group shares are held by institutional investors. 29.3% of Hilltop shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of United Fire Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, HTH or UFCS?

Hilltop has higher revenue and earnings than United Fire Group. United Fire Group 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	$1.57B	1.20	$109.65M	$1.63	17.69
United Fire Group	$1.10B	0.62	-$29.70M	$1.94	13.74

Do analysts recommend HTH or UFCS?

Hilltop presently has a consensus price target of $34.50, indicating a potential upside of 19.62%. United Fire Group has a consensus price target of $26.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.48%. Given Hilltop's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Hilltop is more favorable than United Fire Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hilltop	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67
United Fire Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media prefer HTH or UFCS?

In the previous week, United Fire Group had 2 more articles in the media than Hilltop. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for United Fire Group and 5 mentions for Hilltop. United Fire Group's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Hilltop's score of 0.85 indicating that United Fire Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hilltop	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
United Fire Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, HTH or UFCS?

Hilltop has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Fire Group has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HTH or UFCS more profitable?

Hilltop has a net margin of 6.65% compared to United Fire Group's net margin of 4.15%. United Fire Group's return on equity of 6.75% beat Hilltop's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hilltop	6.65%	4.90%	0.66%
United Fire Group	4.15%	6.75%	1.51%

Summary

United Fire Group beats Hilltop on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.