Contrasting Employers (EIG) & Its Peers

Employers (NYSE:EIG) is one of 311 public companies in the “Insurance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Employers to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Employers has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Employers’ competitors have a beta of -1.59, indicating that their average stock price is 259% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Employers pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Employers pays out 80.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Insurance” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.9% and pay out 31.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Employers has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Employers lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Employers and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Employers	$858.70 million	$10.80 million	27.97
Employers Competitors	$15.54 billion	$1.70 billion	34.38

Employers’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Employers. Employers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Employers and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Employers	0	2	1	0	2.33
Employers Competitors	3336	15674	16522	741	2.40

Employers currently has a consensus price target of $59.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.83%. As a group, “Insurance” companies have a potential upside of 5.95%. Given Employers’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Employers is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Employers and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Employers	3.49%	5.82%	1.49%
Employers Competitors	9.15%	-9.84%	4.10%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.5% of Employers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.8% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Employers shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.6% of shares of all “Insurance” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Employers competitors beat Employers on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

Employers Company Profile

Employers Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates in the commercial property and casualty insurance industry primarily in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Employers and Cerity. It offers workers’ compensation insurance to small businesses in low to medium hazard industries under the Employers and Cerity brands. The company markets its products through local, regional, and national agents and brokers; alternative distribution channels; and national, regional, and local trade groups and associations, as well as directly to customers. Employers Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is based in Henderson, Nevada.