Financial Contrast: Gjensidige Forsikring ASA (OTCMKTS:GJNSY) & Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT)

Safety Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SAFT) and Gjensidige Forsikring ASA (OTCMKTS:GJNSY) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.0% of Safety Insurance Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Gjensidige Forsikring ASA shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Safety Insurance Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Safety Insurance Group and Gjensidige Forsikring ASA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safety Insurance Group	5.33%	7.23%	2.58%
Gjensidige Forsikring ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Safety Insurance Group and Gjensidige Forsikring ASA”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Safety Insurance Group	$1.26 billion	1.20	$99.25 million	$4.64	22.28
Gjensidige Forsikring ASA	N/A	N/A	N/A	$8.72	3.40

Safety Insurance Group has higher revenue and earnings than Gjensidige Forsikring ASA. Gjensidige Forsikring ASA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Safety Insurance Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Safety Insurance Group and Gjensidige Forsikring ASA, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safety Insurance Group	0	2	0	0	2.00
Gjensidige Forsikring ASA	0	0	0	0	0.00

Dividends

Safety Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $3.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Gjensidige Forsikring ASA pays an annual dividend of $10.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 36.0%. Safety Insurance Group pays out 79.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Gjensidige Forsikring ASA pays out 122.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

Safety Insurance Group beats Gjensidige Forsikring ASA on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Safety Insurance Group

Safety Insurance Group, Inc. provides private passenger and commercial automobile, and homeowner insurance in the United States. The company’s private passenger automobile policies offer coverage for bodily injury and property damage to others, no-fault personal injury coverage for the insured/insured’s car occupants, and physical damage coverage for an insured’s own vehicle for collision or other perils. It also provides commercial automobile policies that offer insurance for commercial vehicles used for business purposes, including private passenger-type vehicles, trucks, tractors and trailers, insure individual vehicles, and commercial fleets; and homeowners policies, which provide coverage for homes, condominiums, and apartments for losses to a dwelling and its contents from various perils, and coverage for liability to others arising from ownership or occupancy. In addition, the company offers business owners policies that cover apartments and residential condominiums, restaurants, office condominiums, processing and services businesses, special trade contractors, and wholesalers. Further, it provides personal umbrella policies, which provide personal excess liability coverage over and above the limits of individual automobile, watercraft, and homeowner’s insurance policies; and commercial umbrella, which offers an excess liability product to clients, as well as underwrites dwelling fire insurance for non-owner-occupied residences. Additionally, the company offers inland marine coverage for homeowners and business owner policies, and watercraft coverage for small and medium sized pleasure crafts. It distributes its products through independent agents. The company was formerly known as Safety Holdings Inc and changed its name to Safety Insurance Group, Inc. in April 2002. Safety Insurance Group, Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Gjensidige Forsikring ASA

Gjensidige Forsikring ASA engages in the provision of general insurance and pension products in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The company operates through five segments: General Insurance Private, General Insurance Commercial, General Insurance Sweden, General Insurance Baltics, and Pension. It offers motor, property, accident and health, liability, marine/transport, natural perils, agriculture, travel, leisure craft, valuables, commercial, and life insurance products. The company also provides defined contribution occupational pension schemes for businesses, which include disability pension, spouse/cohabitant pension, and child's pension products. It distributes its products through various distribution channels comprising office channel, call center, Internet, partners, and brokers to private and commercial customers. The company was founded in 1816 and is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Gjensidige Forsikring ASA operates as a subsidiary of GjensidigeStiftelsen.