Universal Insurance (UVE) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate UVE or HTH?

Hilltop has a consensus target price of $34.00, suggesting a potential upside of 19.06%. Given Hilltop's stronger consensus rating and higher probable 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)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of UVE or HTH?

66.6% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of Hilltop shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.5% of Universal Insurance shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.3% of Hilltop shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, UVE or HTH?

Universal Insurance has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hilltop has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor UVE or HTH?

Universal Insurance received 50 more outperform votes than Hilltop when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.97% of users gave Universal Insurance an outperform vote while only 52.60% of users gave Hilltop an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Universal Insurance	Outperform Votes 293 63.97%	Underperform Votes 165 36.03%
Hilltop	Outperform Votes 243 52.60%	Underperform Votes 219 47.40%

Does the media prefer UVE or HTH?

In the previous week, Universal Insurance had 2 more articles in the media than Hilltop. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Universal Insurance and 4 mentions for Hilltop. Hilltop's average media sentiment score of 0.74 beat Universal Insurance's score of 0.52 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	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hilltop	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is UVE or HTH more profitable?

Hilltop has a net margin of 7.04% compared to Universal Insurance's net margin of 4.82%. Universal Insurance's return on equity of 15.43% beat Hilltop's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Universal Insurance	4.82%	15.43%	2.37%
Hilltop	7.04%	5.18%	0.71%

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 2.8%. Hilltop pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Universal Insurance pays out 32.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hilltop pays out 41.4% 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. Universal Insurance is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has preferable earnings & 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	$1.52B	0.43	$66.82M	$1.99	11.66
Hilltop	$1.12B	1.65	$113.21M	$1.74	16.41

Summary

Universal Insurance beats Hilltop on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.