Contrasting Westwood Holdings Group (WHG) & The Competition

Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG) is one of 1,743 public companies in the “Capital Markets” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Westwood Holdings Group to related companies based on the strength of its risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Dividends

Westwood Holdings Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Westwood Holdings Group pays out 68.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Capital Markets” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 29.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Volatility & Risk

Westwood Holdings Group has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westwood Holdings Group’s competitors have a beta of 0.79, indicating that their average stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Westwood Holdings Group and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westwood Holdings Group	0	0	1	0	3.00
Westwood Holdings Group Competitors	5561	20139	22479	642	2.37

As a group, “Capital Markets” companies have a potential upside of 26.42%. Given Westwood Holdings Group’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Westwood Holdings Group has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Westwood Holdings Group and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westwood Holdings Group	7.00%	7.25%	5.89%
Westwood Holdings Group Competitors	318.24%	11.44%	3.69%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.6% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.5% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by institutional investors. 17.4% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.1% of shares of all “Capital Markets” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Westwood Holdings Group and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westwood Holdings Group	$97.76 million	$7.06 million	21.16
Westwood Holdings Group Competitors	$5.22 billion	$399.10 million	17.84

Westwood Holdings Group’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Westwood Holdings Group. Westwood Holdings Group is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Westwood Holdings Group competitors beat Westwood Holdings Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Westwood Holdings Group Company Profile

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manages investment assets and provides services for its clients. The company operates in two segments, Advisory and Trust. The Advisory segment provides investment advisory services to corporate retirement plans, public retirement plans, endowments, foundations, individuals, and the Westwood Funds; and investment sub-advisory services to mutual funds, pooled investment vehicles, and its Trust segment. The Trust segment offers trust and custodial services; and participates in common trust funds that it sponsors to institutions and high net worth individuals. Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Dallas, Texas.