Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) versus James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR) Head-To-Head Contrast

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) and James River Group (NASDAQ:JRVR) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Assurant has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, James River Group has a beta of -0.17, indicating that its share price is 117% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Assurant pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. James River Group pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Assurant pays out 16.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. James River Group pays out 10.5% 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. Assurant is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Assurant and James River Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assurant	$12.81 billion	1.09	$872.70 million	$20.94	13.55
James River Group	$687.61 million	0.26	$47.43 million	$0.38	10.18

Assurant has higher revenue and earnings than James River Group. James River Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assurant, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.7% of Assurant shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.2% of James River Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Assurant shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 34.0% of James River Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Assurant and James River Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assurant	7.90%	20.40%	3.34%
James River Group	4.68%	9.93%	1.07%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Assurant and James River Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assurant	0	0	6	2	3.25
James River Group	1	6	0	0	1.86

Assurant currently has a consensus target price of $324.29, suggesting a potential upside of 14.27%. James River Group has a consensus target price of $5.75, suggesting a potential upside of 48.58%. Given James River Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe James River Group is more favorable than Assurant.

Summary

Assurant beats James River Group on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services. The Global Housing segment provides lender-placed homeowners, manufactured housing, and flood insurance; renters insurance and related products; and voluntary manufactured housing, and condominium and homeowners insurance products. The company was formerly known as Fortis, Inc. and changed its name to Assurant, Inc. in February 2004. Assurant, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About James River Group

James River Group Holdings, Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides specialty insurance services. It operates through Excess and Surplus Lines, and Specialty Admitted Insurance segments. The Excess and Surplus Lines segment underwrites liability and property insurance in the United States Puerto Rice, and the United States Virgin Islands. This segment distributes its insurance policies primarily through wholesale insurance brokers. The Specialty Admitted Insurance segment provides insurance for fronting, program administrators, managing general agents, and independent retail agents. James River Group Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.