Assurant (AIZ) Competitors

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) and The Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE:HIG) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, community ranking and profitability.

Which has more volatility and risk, AIZ or HIG?

Assurant has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, The Hartford Financial Services Group has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AIZ or HIG?

The Hartford Financial Services Group received 367 more outperform votes than Assurant when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.27% of users gave The Hartford Financial Services Group an outperform vote while only 57.45% of users gave Assurant an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Assurant	Outperform Votes 297 57.45%	Underperform Votes 220 42.55%
The Hartford Financial Services Group	Outperform Votes 664 66.27%	Underperform Votes 338 33.73%

Do analysts rate AIZ or HIG?

Assurant presently has a consensus target price of $234.17, suggesting a potential upside of 17.58%. The Hartford Financial Services Group has a consensus target price of $122.94, suggesting a potential upside of 10.13%. Given Assurant's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Assurant is more favorable than The Hartford Financial Services Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assurant	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
The Hartford Financial Services Group	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56

Is AIZ or HIG more profitable?

The Hartford Financial Services Group has a net margin of 11.72% compared to Assurant's net margin of 6.40%. The Hartford Financial Services Group's return on equity of 19.55% beat Assurant's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assurant	6.40%	17.25%	2.55%
The Hartford Financial Services Group	11.72%	19.55%	3.88%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, AIZ or HIG?

The Hartford Financial Services Group has higher revenue and earnings than Assurant. The Hartford Financial Services Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assurant, 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
Assurant	$11.88B	0.86	$760.20M	$14.47	13.76
The Hartford Financial Services Group	$26.54B	1.22	$3.11B	$10.35	10.79

Is AIZ or HIG a better dividend stock?

Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. The Hartford Financial Services Group pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Assurant pays out 22.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. The Hartford Financial Services Group pays out 20.1% 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. Assurant has increased its dividend for 21 consecutive years and The Hartford Financial Services Group has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years. The Hartford Financial Services Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media prefer AIZ or HIG?

In the previous week, Assurant had 5 more articles in the media than The Hartford Financial Services Group. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Assurant and 16 mentions for The Hartford Financial Services Group. The Hartford Financial Services Group's average media sentiment score of 1.19 beat Assurant's score of 0.59 indicating that The Hartford Financial Services Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Assurant	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
The Hartford Financial Services Group	9 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AIZ or HIG?

92.7% of Assurant shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.4% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Assurant shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of The Hartford Financial Services Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

The Hartford Financial Services Group beats Assurant on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.